Machuncka
Lets say this will serve three to five people.
What you’ll need…
Garlic, onions, one big can of sauerkraut, cayenne red pepper, (mushrooms – optional) and a big can of crushed stewed tomatoes – or several fresh ones will be fine as well.
This is a spicy hot dipping dish to be served with crusty hot bread or over gnocchi. At least that is what I’ve always done with it. This is a poormans’ Western Pennsylvania dish so it just takes a few things to make and it warms up a kitchen and people so I like to have this dish in cooler weather months around a small table so dipping, sharing and passing the food around is easy and comfortable.
Step one:
This sauce can be white or red.
So the base of the sauce is made by chopping 3 to 5 cloves of garlic and one large or three small onions and saut̩ing them together in olive oil until the garlic browns a little and the onions becomes translucent. Then you want to drain all of the liquid from the can of sauerkraut into the frying pan and cook the liquid, garlic and onions together until it becomes thinker. While this is cooking Рquick - fill the sauerkraut can with kraut still in it, up with w
ater again and let it sit – this is so you have more sauerkraut juice. As this is cooking you can add about a half a teaspoon of cayenne red pepper – more or less if you like on this. I like more. The cooking down will be the first phase of warming your kitchen up.
Now you have the basic sauce and if you like you can serve this with bread to dip on plates with polish or Italian sausage and the plain sauerkraut.
Step two:
(The next thing is to add a couple of cups of mushrooms – any kind that in available is nice but if you don’t have mushrooms don’t worry you can skip them – so it’s a cook em if you got em thing) If you got em then let them cook down in the sauce until they are quit soft and have absorbed the flavor of the garlic, onions and sauerkraut juice.
Step next:
After the favor of the sauce has become set you can add a can of crushed stewed tomatoes or a couple of cups of fresh chopped tomatoes to the mixture with the new sauerkraut juice you have in you can. You want this to stew together for a while until the sauce turns more orange then plan tomato sauce red due to the sauerkraut juice.
Finishing up:
So now you have a couple of things you can do. The kitchen is nice and warm because you have heated or baked bread or boiled and buttered gnocchi or both to serve with the Machuncka. Also you and guests should be having a nice glass of beer or seltzer water and be waiting around the kitchen being in each others way.
But what do you do with the sauerkraut in the can? I sometimes have added the water again to stretch the recipe and then I put the juice and about a third of the can into the sauce and let it all cook together until it is thick again. The rest of the sauerkraut I cook separately in a pan with a little oil or butter and some garlic and serve on the side. You can also put the sauerkraut in a pan with sausages and serve on the side as well. During the end of this part of the cooking it is a good idea to begin setting the table with bowls and little plates and lots of paper napkins and of course telling humorous stories. Serve the Machunka in a big bowl in the middle of the table, pipping hot with a big spoon so people can dip as much as they can eat into their own bowls.
click images to enlarge
