Instant Crispy Pickled Cabbage

The good thing about pickled cabbage is that you don’t have to wait several days for it to be ready, as is the case with sauerkraut. You can eat pickled cabbage in pieces after 24 hours. A crispy, tasty appetizer can be served at the holiday table. In addition, this cabbage can be stewed with meat or added to salads. The cabbage in this recipe tastes sweet and sour.

• Time: 30 minutes + 24 hours marinating.
  
• Yield: 1.5 liter jar (7 servings of 133 g each).
  
• Calorie content: 30 kcal per 100 g.

Products:

• - cabbage - 800 g;
  
• - carrots - 100 g;
  
• - garlic - 1 head (8 g).

Products for marinade:

• - water - 500 ml;
  
• - salt - 1 tbsp. l. without slide (20 g);
  
• - sugar - 3 tbsp. l. with a slide + 1 tbsp. l. without slide (100 g);
  
• - vinegar 6% - 100 g;
  
• - vegetable oil - 100 ml (90 g);
  
• - pepper (peas) - 6 pcs.;
  
• - cumin - 1 tsp;
  
• - cloves - 3 pcs.;
  
• - bay leaf - 2 pcs.

Preparation:

Take 1/2 head of medium-sized cabbage. If the top leaves are damaged, remove them. Cut the stalk from half a head of cabbage, and then wash the cabbage under running running water. The recipe indicates the weight of the cabbage already peeled and without the stalk. We take large and bright orange carrots.Add to the ingredients in a bowl a head of garlic, a couple of bay leaves and peppercorns, cloves (to taste) and 1 tsp. caraway seeds (more if desired). You will also need 6% vinegar. I have 6% apple cider vinegar.

We will also add vegetable oil to the pickled cabbage. When serving pickled cabbage, you no longer need to add oil to it.

So let's get started. Cut 1/2 head of cabbage into strips about 2 cm wide.

Now across the strips we cut more strips of the same width. As a result, we got squares.

The larger the cabbage squares are cut, the tastier it is.

Peel and wash the carrots. We cut it into cubes or just round, semicircular slices. You can use a cookie cutter to cut hearts out of round carrot slices.

We send carrot slices, bars and hearts to the cabbage. Sprinkle them on top of the cabbage without stirring.

After peeling the garlic, divide it into slices. Then, after peeling the slices, cut them lengthwise into several pieces.

We send slices of garlic to the cabbage and carrots. We don't mix anything.

Pour 0.5 liters of water into a wide saucepan (in which the marinade will boil faster). Add sugar and salt here.

Add vinegar.

We also add spices according to the recipe.

Now pour in the oil. After mixing the marinade ingredients in the pan, put it (along with the contents) on the fire. Cook the marinade for 2 minutes.

Pour the boiling marinade into the cabbage with carrots and garlic.

When the vegetables have cooled slightly, mix them with clean hands, while disassembling the chopped cabbage cubes into individual leaves.

As soon as the marinade in the vegetables has cooled completely, cover the vegetables with a plate on which we place a small weight. Place in the cold for three days.Although after 24 hours you can already taste the pickled cabbage with carrots, but after a day it is still not sufficiently marinated - it tastes sweetish. After three days, the taste of the cabbage becomes more balanced, and the pickled cabbage turns out just great! The cabbage is crispy, flavorful and very juicy.

The cabbage can be transferred from the pan to a jar. We put it in a one and a half liter jar, fill it with brine from the pan. We put it in the refrigerator.

The pickled cabbage according to this recipe is already completely ready for use; there is no need to add additional oil to it. Just put it in a plate and serve it to the table. Bon appetit!