Poland - Bigos

Ingredients

2 jars sauerkraut

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large onions, chopped

5 pieces very lean belly pork or pork shoulder

2 smoked kabanos (polish sausage)

50g dried porcini mushrooms

1.5 litres chicken stock made up with water

100g white mushrooms, chopped

1 packet mushroom soup (optional)

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Drain the sauerkraut into a sieve. If the sauerkraut is very sour (and you would prefer it to be less sour) you can rinse it with cold water and then drain. Set to one side.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan and add the onions. Cook on a very low heat until the onions are very soft and lightly golden.

Add the chopped pork to the pan and brown all over, until any fat has melted.

Add the chopped kabanos or smoked sausage to the pan.

In a separate bowl, pour one cup of hot water on the porcini mushrooms and leave them to soak.

Once the sauerkraut has properly drained, add it to the pan with the onions and meat.

Add the chicken stock and stir together well. Drain the porcini mushrooms, roughly chop and add to the sauerkraut. Pour in the cup of porcini mushroom stock, too, being careful not to add any of the grit at the bottom.

Cover with a lid, or tin foil and bake in the oven for one and a half hours, turning the oven down to 180 degrees Celsius after the first fifteen minutes.

Towards the end of the cooking time, chop the white mushrooms and fry them in a separate pan with a little vegetable oil. Add these into the sauerkraut along with 500ml mushroom soup (optional) stir well and bake for a further thirty minutes.

The bigos is best eaten the day after cooking after being thoroughly well re-heated.

Serve with Polish rye bread.