Oven Baked Cabbage and Pork

This recipe is from Bulgarian cuisine and it is one of the best winter meals. It is satisfying and fragrant, goes great with garlic on the side or sprinkled over the dish. Fresh vegetables such as cucumber compliments the pork. It is best to use pork with some fat on it as it releases th fat in the dish thus making the cabbage more flavourful. Personally, I enjoy having this dish with some garlic aioli on the side and some bread. Feel free to serve as you see fit but please leave a comment so I can try out the garnishings as well. 

600 g of pork (with skin works best)

1 head of white cabbage midum-sized

1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

260 g of tomatoe sauce

2 bay leafes

2 tablespoons of paprika spice

120 ml of olive oil

Chopped peppers (to taste)

spicy pepper (flakes, optional)

salt

Chop up the cabbage and sweat it in a deep pot, salt well. Sweating is a technique that draws out the moisture from the cabbage and makes it soft and traslucent. Place the pot on the lowest heat and stir every fiv minutes or so to prevent it from sticking.

While the cabbage is eing prepared, place a pan on the heat and heat of some olive oil. Start cooking the pork together with the cipped cloves of garlic. You can ether cook the garlic together with the meat or fry the garlic till is golden brown and then take it out before cooking the pork. Once the prk is golden brown set it aside. 

In another pan/pot hat upmore live oil and start frying the other garlic clove together with finely chopped onion.  Once the onion is translucent add the tomatoe souce, the redd and black pepper, as well as one bay leaf. Fry and stir for a few minutes to incorporate the spices well. Next, if the cabbage is soft and translucent, add the mixture to the pot with the cabbage and stir that well, after adding the pork as well. Add 200 ml of water.

Transfer everything to the pan you're going to be using and cover it up with aluminum foil. Place tha pan in the middle of re'heated oven on 150 Celsius for an hour and a half. After that remove the foil and bake on 180 C. for another 30 min. 

To serve, you can garnish with fresh dill and finely chopped garlic. Fresh cucumber compliments the dish and so does red wine. 

Enjoy!