Red Cabbage with Cranberry aka braised rotkohl with cranberry is a festive, tangy side dish for the holidays.
Red Cabbage with Cranberry
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
Braised red cabbage, or rotkohl, as it’s called has always been a favorite of mine with it’s tangy sweet and sour flavors. I have always been crazy about sweet and sour anything, from Chinese pork, to pickles or even Charms sweet and sour pops (I liked the blue ones).
Being German in nature, this goes easily with any type of roasted pork loin, pork chops or even ham. I have even had it with chicken, and the only thing it doesn’t pair with as often is sauerkraut, since you probably don’t want to go overboard with the cabbages.
And German food for me is very popular around the holidays, while I dig out old Vienna Boys Choir cds, eat stollen, gingerbread and other cold weather foods. The cranberries are very naturally suited to go in this type of side dish, since the tart nature of them plays out in the sweet and sour notes. I like it a lot, and hope you do as well.
Tomorrow I will be posting Hot Chocolate Eggnog (although I doubt my Florida followers will be as interested with temperatures in the 80’s). But the rest of us are in the icebox, so we can partake. Friday is Bacon-Horseradish dip which is for chips. We occasionally like a little of that on New Year’s Eve if we don’t have some other things taking it’s place. Saturday is my Holiday Hot Tea Punch, a riff off of Russian Hot Tea Punch, and can also be served iced (See? I DO think of you guys down there in the peninsula!). I hope you join me each day and also for new recipes posting next week, starting on Monday when I post for #MuffinMonday with Blueberry Corn Muffins. C’ya then!
~Sue
Red Cabbage with Cranberry

Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 pounds red cabbage, cored and shredded
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- 2 cups fresh (or frozen) cranberries
- 1 cup apple cider or apple juice
- 3/4 cup dry red wine
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon crushed juniper berries
Method:
- Saute the onion in the olive oil and butter until soft; add cabbage and stir-fry until it wilts.
- Stir in remaining ingredients.
- Simmer, covered, for 75 minutes or until cabbage is as tender to your liking.
- Taste and adjust the sweet and sour flavor (add more sugar for more sweet, more vinegar for more sour) and cook with the lid off for a few minutes to allow liquid to evaporate.
From the kitchen of palatablepastime

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