🥬 Podvarak
Podvarak is a Serbian winter dish of shredded sauerkraut baked slowly with pork, sweet paprika and bay leaf. The long time in the oven softens the cabbage and mellows its sourness, while the pork releases its juices into it, giving a tangy, smoky and deeply savoury result. It is served hot straight from the baking dish, often as a main course in cold months.
Diets
Allergens
None of the 14 major allergens in a typical recipe.
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg sauerkraut, shredded
- 600 g pork shoulder or ribs, in pieces
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp sweet paprika
- 2 bay leaves
- Black pepper and 250 ml water
Method
- Heat the oven to 180 °C. Rinse the sauerkraut briefly if very salty and squeeze it.
- Brown the pork in the oil, then add the onion and cook 5 minutes.
- Stir in the paprika off the heat, then mix with the sauerkraut, bay leaves and pepper.
- Spread in a baking dish, pour in the water and cover with foil.
- Bake 1½–2 hours, removing the foil for the last 20 minutes to brown the top.
How to make it lighter
- Trim visible fat from the pork or use lean pork loin.
- Use a larger share of sauerkraut and less meat per plate; the cabbage is very low in calories.
- Measure the oil: 1 tbsp oil ≈ 120 kcal.
History
Podvarak draws on the Balkan tradition of fermenting whole cabbages in autumn to last through the winter. Today it is a common home and tavern dish in Serbia and is also cooked in neighbouring countries.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →