Czechmatediary

I consulted three cookbooks for this recipe of which one is taken from the “Velka Kucharka”(Big Cookbook) by Brabec - a favorite cookbook of my mom’s. “Velka kucharka” was written during deep communist times (1969) so the authenticity of this recipe is 100% guaranteed…

ZELNACKA

Ingredients:

• 7 0z. Sauerkraut
• 6 cups of water
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 2 tbs. of flour
• 1 onion,diced
• 4 slices of bacon
• Polish sausage (kielbasa)
• 5-10 white mushrooms, diced
• 1 tsp. Caraway seeds
• 1-2 tsp. Sweet paprika

1. Saute finely diced bacon
2. Add sliced Polish sausage, mushrooms and onion; saute for about 5 min.
3. Sprinkle with flour and stir everything around
   
4. Add drained sauerkraut, diced potatoes, caraway seeds and paprika and stir
5. Add water, salt and cook until tender

Optional: top with sour-cream before serving

Don’t forget to serve it with a good (rustic) bread! That’s a key!!!

PS: Also, if after tasting the finished soup, you still feel like the soup “needs something”, try to add a little bit of the sauerkraut juice and a little bit of sugar (to ballance the acidity out)

By the way if you are looking for a good Czech cookbook yourself, this is a great one: