Cabbage soup aka paradicsomos káposztaleves

 

Oh my, since .... ever I am a tomato addict. I can eat tomatoes with tomatoes.

One of my favorite soups is a cabbage soup in tomato juice, and just like my father, I can eat it every week, for consecutive days. We called it lucskos, but as the dish is prepared in so many ways in different region, I just go with the simplified cabbage soup. 

I like it in the most simple way possible, no meat, no extra fuss, just the broth, cabbage, and tomato paste. Surely this can be made richer with sautéed onion, sautéed bell peppers, bacon, or smoked ham, but for me... less is more. Plus, I like to be done with the preps asap. Lazy home cook here..

Unfortunately hubby did not like it for a looong time, and the dumb-ass I am I did not make it for the family. It turns out, the kids love it too!, so it is back on the table.

We typically have a bunch of cabbage left after our taco nights, and that gives me just the right opportunity to make it.

Ingredients

2-3 pound of cabbage

1 15 oz, 425 g can tomato puree

1 liter ( 1quart) vegetable broth

3-4 tbsp of roux (rántás) with paprika

salt & pepper 

sour cream for serving (leave out for diary free)

Replace the vegetable broth with 1 heap full tbsp of Vegeta (which is basically dried soup veggies mixed with salt)

 For the roux

3-4 tbsp oil

3-4 tbsp flour

paprika powder (sweet, spicy, smoked, go for whatever you like), I use the spicy 

To prepare the roux 

Heat some oil in a small pan, and add 4 tbsp of flour. Mix constantly until light cream color. Don't be tempted to leave it alone, once it heats up it is basically burned, too, so you wanna stick to the whisk for this. Remove from teh heat, mix in the paprika, and set aside.

Prepare the soup

Slice the cabbage in thin slices, add into a 4 quart pot. Pour over the broth and tomato sauce, add 1/2 tsp black pepper, and adjust the saltiness. If you are using Vegeta, wait until it dissolves completely, you don't want to add extra salt if not necessary. Add water until the cabbage is covered.

Bring to boil, and simmer for 45 minutes. You can simmer slightly less, or more, depends how crunchy you like the cabbage. I actually like this one less crunchy, so I tend to simmer it longer.

When cooked it's time to decide how thick you like your soup. Add more water if needed, adjust saltiness, and add the roux. Cook for a few minutes until slightly thickens.

Many people add the sour cream to it at this phase, I like to leave it out for serving. Everybody can add as little or as much as they want, and people on a diary free diet won't have any trouble.

Serve with the sour cream, croutons, toasted or fresh slices of bread.

Bon appétit!