Another wonderful Hungarian Meal from my childhood. I tried to think of how I would translate the title of this recipe to English and I think the best way to describe it would be sauerkraut casserole. This dish is sooo full of sour cream, it can’t be anything but a Hungarian dish. It comes together with very few ingredients, but is so full of flavour. The acidity of the sauerkraut balances out the richness of the sour cream and creates a perfect blend to make your taste buds jump for joy. The preparation is quite simple and is another one of those recipes that you only have to make once to know how to make it forever. Another Hungarian recipe in the books!
Ingredients
1 jar White Wine Sauerkraut
1 cup Rice
1 lb. Ground Beef or Pork (or a mix)
4 cloves Garlic
1 cup Sour Cream
6 slices Bacon
Salt
Pepper
Directions
Start by adding some oil to a small pot and sautéing your rice in it, just to coat. Once all the rice is coated, add your water (per package instructions). Once you water starts to boil, cover with a lid and turn your heat down to low. Let your rice cook and simmer per package instructions. Do not remove the lid, not even once. When the cooking time is up, turn off the heat and let it sit with the lid on for 5 additional minutes. Don’t peek!
While the rice is cooking, empty your wine sauerkraut into a sieve and rinse well. Once you’re done rinsing, wring out as much water as you can from the sauerkraut.
Add a small amount of oil to a frying pan and just barely brown your sauerkraut. You don’t want to crisp them up or anything, you just want to get a little colour and get any excess water out. Once that’s done, take it out of the pan and set aside.
To the same pan, add a small amount of oil and fry your minced garlic until fragrant, about a minute. Then, add your beef/ pork and brown the meat until it’s fully cooked. This is also when I like to add salt and ground pepper to the meat mix. For whatever reason, I love this dish nice and peppery.
This should time up with you rice being done. When your rice and meat are both cooked, add the rice to the beef and combine. You want it to be fully mixed. Once it’s fully mixed, add a generous amount of sour cream. Generous. Amount. And mix again until fully combined. Give it a taste and see if you need to adjust the seasoning.
Now we begin to layer our casserole. On the bottom of a baking dish, add half of your sauerkraut. Next, add all of your meat and rice mixture to the baking dish. The top with the remaining half of your sauerkraut.
Now- I like to add thinly sliced bacon to the top of my casserole, but some would say the more classic option would be to add another thin layer of sour cream. I can’t believe I opt for bacon over sour cream, but stranger things have happened. Choose your own adventure!
Bake for 45 minutes to one hour at 350℉.
Serve with additional sour cream or, for some heat, with sauerkraut stuffed cherry bombs!
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