Cabbage and Shrimp Combo

For our spring garden, I'd put in beets, carrots, lettuce, and spinach.  During a visit to the nursery looking for herbs I saw that they had cole crop plants on sale.  So, instead of leaving empty handed we left with some cabbage and brussels sprouts sets.

Sadly, the brussels sprouts never amounted to anything as they were a constant target of a variety of insects.  The cabbage fared only slightly better.  The chief culprits in the attack against the cabbage were wasps.  They would chew holes in the leaves and carry big balls of cabbage fiber away to build their nests.  Plus the weather started getting too hot for them and time was drawing near for me to put in the summer crops.  In the end, I had 3 heads of white cabbage and 3 puny heads of red cabbage.

Not being one to waste anything needlessly, I decided to use them to make more German style sour kraut.  I figured the red cabbage mixed in would make it colorful as well as tasty.  As you will see, that was not to be.

The 3 white cabbages yielded 1.5 lbs of shredded cabbage and I got about 1.5 cups of shredded red cabbage.  I told you the red cabbages were puny.  The small amount of red cabbage gave me an idea of an alternate condiment to go with supper while the white cabbage was destined to be sour kraut.

Freshly shredded

German style Sour Kraut

2 lbs cabbage, shredded
1-2 Tbs kosher or sea salt
10 juniper berries
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 cup water
1 tsp salt


Put the shredded cabbage in a bowl large enough to allow you to mix it around.  Add the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Let rest for 10 minutes.  Mix again and let rest for another 10 minutes up to an hour.  Put the cabbage mixture in a sterilized quart canning jar packing the cabbage down tightly.  It should produce its own brine as you do this.  Once all the cabbage mixture is in the jar, if there is not enough brine to cover the cabbage mix the water and 1 tsp salt and pour over it to the top of the jar.  Put the lid on and let it sit on a counter for 2 - 3  weeks.  You should put the jar in a cake pan as the fermentation process will cause the fluid to overflow.  After the 2 - 3 weeks the fermentation bubbles will stop.  At this time, if the brine doesn't cover the kraut add more brine made with 1 cup water and 1 tsp salt.  Refrigerate and enjoy.

2 pint jars ready to ferment

This German style Sour Kraut is excellent on top of grilled bratwurst, as a side with Kassler (a German style ham), or just as a crunchy snack.  Not only is it tasty you get the benefits of naturally fermented food. 

Now comes the Uncle T experiment.  We had some sandwich rolls left over from a previous meal so I was wanting to use them.  The sandwich rolls were made with the hamburger bun recipe I shared in the Kimchi Burger post in April.  You just make long buns instead of round ones.  I had decided on my version of a shrimp po'boy with a chipotle remoulade sauce.  The red cabbage brought the idea of a Chipotle Red Cabbage Slaw.



Chipotle Red Cabbage Slaw

I've never been a fan of creamy type slaws because they always seem to be swimming in the sauce where vinegar based slaws you can at least drain easily.  So I made just enough of the sauce to lightly coat the red cabbage.

Chipotle Red Cabbage Slaw

1. 5 cups red cabbage, shredded
1 Tbs cilantro, minced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp chipotle powder or to taste

Toss the red cabbage and cilantro together.  In a bowl, mix the other ingredients then add to the cabbage.  Mix well to evenly coat the cabbage.  Taste is and adjust any seasoning.  If the slaw is too hot for you, add a bit more honey to counter the heat.

To build the po'boy, slice the warmed roll but don't slice all the way through.  Put a layer of the slaw on the bottom portion.  Top that with freshly fried shrimp.  Yes, I prepped and fried my own shrimp.  Admire your handiwork and dig in.



As you can see, even Uncle T sometimes resorts to frozen french fries.   I also added a 2 or 3 more shrimp to the po'boy after the picture was taken.  I must say that I'm quite pleased with how the combo turned out.  I can't wait to put some of the fresh sour kraut on some brats in about a month.

Keep in mind, you can turn a less than desirable outcome into something very desirable.  I hope you give one or both of these a try.  I'm sure you'll like them.

Uncle T