Kapuska – braised cabbage – with beef

Kapuska is a Turkish dish that is braised cabbage, usually with tomatoes, roasted peppers, garlic and onions. I make many different versions of this dish depending on what I have at the time. You don’t need to include meat. Sometimes I just leave the meat out completely or add beans/chickpeas. Kapuska is great served with rice, potatoes, pickles, salad, cous cous or with bread – all probably not that traditional, but tasty!

Ingredients:
*1/2 red cabbage – about 500g sliced (You can use white cabbage)
*1 large onion – sliced.
* 5 cloves of garlic
*1 tbs of oil
*1 chopped chilli (depending on your liking)
*Large handful of fresh parsley (can omit this)
*1 litre of vegetable stock
*I large jar of roasted peppers (480g)
*1 can of chopped tomatoes (400g) or 400g of fresh, chopped
*4 sundried tomatoes
*400g of meat of choice (chicken, beef, lamb or chickpeas/beans).

Method:
1. Slice cabbage and onion
2. Saute onion in oil until soft.
3. Add cabbage and saute for a couple of minutes.
4. Blend roasted peppers, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, chilli, garlic and parsley.
5. Add blended ingredients to cabbage.
6. Add cooked meat and stock.
7. Simmer for 30 minutes.
8. Season and serve.

If you want to add raw meat then I would saute the meat with the onion from the start. I used some cooked meatballs I had already made in this version.

Traditional recipes often use a ‘roasted pepper paste’ instead of the blended peppers. It is a bit like a tomato puree, but peppers. I have never managed to find this so use the blended roasted peppers instead.

Calories = 282 (makes 6 servings)