Bigus can be found in almost all cuisines of the Slavic peoples, but it is believed that this dish belongs to Polish cuisine.
Many confuse bigus with stewed cabbage. In fact, there is nothing in common between them. Bigus contains many different ingredients.
Bigus with potatoes - the basic principles of cooking
Traditional bigus is made from sauerkraut, but you can experiment and cook a dish with fresh vegetables. Bigus with potatoes is hearty and tasty.
An important ingredient in bigus is meat. It gives the dish a unique taste. You can use beef, pork, offal, smoked meats, as well as sausage or sausages and even minced meat. For cooking, choose pulp with layers of fat or ribs.
In addition to meat, potatoes and cabbage, other fresh vegetables and tomato sauce are added to the bigus. It turns out an independent hearty dish.
Season it with absolutely any spices and spices. But for the first time it is better to cook bigus with a minimum amount of spices in order to feel the real taste and aroma of the dish.
Recipe 1. Bigus with potatoes
Ingredients
onion - two heads;
ground black pepper;
chicken fillet - 600 g;
salt;
carrot - two pcs.;
vegetable oil;
a small head of cabbage;
garlic - three large cloves;
tomato juice - ½ tbsp .;
potatoes - five pcs.
Cooking method
1. Pass the peeled and chopped onions in refined oil to a rosy hue.
2. The washed and peeled carrots are cut into thin strips and added to the onion. Fry over moderate heat.
3. Wash the chicken fillet and cut into small cubes. Fry, adding to vegetables. Season with pepper, salt and continue to simmer.
4. Cut the peeled potatoes into medium sized bars and add to the pan with vegetables and chicken. Fry until golden brown for about seven minutes.
5. We clean cabbage from dry leaves. Shred it with straws, salt and slightly crush it so that it starts up the juice. We spread the cabbage in a pan, cover with a lid for 5 minutes, so that the cabbage becomes soft. Stew on moderate heat, stirring occasionally.
6. Pour in tomato juice or diluted tomato paste, mix all the ingredients. We stew the bigus on a small fire for about 20 minutes, stirring so that it does not burn.
7. Finely chop the garlic and add it to the pan with a bigus. Mix and let it brew for about ten minutes. We do not cover the finished dish with a lid so that it does not turn into boiled cabbage.
Recipe 2. Vegetarian Bigus with Potatoes
Ingredients
potatoes - four pcs.;
salt;
sauerkraut - 200 g;
vegetable oil;
two onions;
ground pepper;
wild garlic - four pcs.;
sprig of dill;
carrot;
Bay leaf;
peas.
Cooking method
1. Peel the carrots and chop on a coarse grater. Free the onion from the husk, and cut into small cubes.
2. Heat several tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pan with a thick bottom. Put the vegetable slices on the bottom of the pan and fry until soft and brown.
3. Peel the potatoes and cut them into large enough bars.
4. Squeeze and send a little sauerkraut to the pan, mix the ingredients. Fry the contents of the pan, stirring constantly, until the cabbage is fried.
5. Grind a sprig of parsley, cut the stalks of wild garlic into ringlets. Send chopped potatoes to the pan, mix. Put the pod of hot red pepper in the pan, add one bay leaf here. Pour in some drinking water and add a teaspoon of tomato paste. Stew the bigus for 20 minutes. At the final stage, add chopped greens and wild garlic.
Recipe 3. Bigus with potatoes and minced meat
Ingredients
sauerkraut - 300 g;
salt;
fresh cabbage - ½ head of cabbage;
black pepper;
potato - four tubers;
sunflower oil - 50 ml;
a tomato;
bell pepper - pod;
a pound of minced meat;
two carrots;
onions - one head.
Cooking method
1. Rinse the meat, dry it, cut into pieces and pass through a meat grinder. Put the minced meat in a cauldron and fry, constantly mixing, until the color changes.
2. Peel and wash the vegetables. Chop the onion into cubes. Grind carrots in thin strips. Put the vegetables in a cauldron with minced meat.
3. Cut the potatoes into blocks. Five minutes later, add to the cauldron. Shuffle.
4. Remove the leafy leaves from the cabbage. Chop it with thin noodles and add the vegetable five minutes after the potato. Slightly fry and add sauerkraut, having squeezed it first.
5. Rinse the tomato and pepper. Cut the stalks. Finely chop the vegetables, and send to the cauldron. Stir and simmer all together for about seven minutes, pepper and salt.
Recipe 4. Bigus with potatoes in a slow cooker
Ingredients
150 ml of drinking water;
500 g of chicken;
a bunch of parsley and dill;
forks of fresh cabbage;
garlic - head;
carrot - three pcs.;
bell pepper - two pods;
onion - four heads;
300 g of potatoes.
Cooking method
1. Wash the chicken, soak it in napkins and cut into small pieces. Salt, mix by hand and put on the bottom of the device.
2. Remove the top flaccid leaves from the cabbage fork, cut the head of cabbage in half and chop it into thin strips. Add a little salt and knead until juice appears. Peel the onion and chop in half rings. Peel the garlic and chop. Combine with onion and mix. Peel the potato from the peel, cut into slices along. Put the potatoes on top of the meat, lay the chopped cabbage, onions and garlic on a layer of potatoes.
3. Peel and chop the carrots into large chips, put on top of the cabbage. Wash the bell peppers, remove the seeds and the stalk, cut in half rings, put on a carrot.
4. Fresh tomatoes cut into circles, put on the ingredients. Season with spices. Sprinkle with chopped herbs. Pour in drinking water. Place the container with ingredients in the appliance, close the lid, set the pressure valve to the “high pressure” position. Cook the bigus in quenching mode for about 20 minutes. Then open the valve, let off the steam and open the lid. Stir the bigus with a wooden spatula.
Recipe 5. Bigus with potatoes and mushrooms
Ingredients
a glass of sauerkraut;
salt;
potatoes - two pcs.;
ground black pepper;
bulb;
60 g of tomato paste;
Bulgarian pepper pod;
200 ml of chicken stock;
a small carrot;
garlic - two cloves;
a slice of parsnip;
six champignons;
70 g of lard;
two smoked sausages.
Cooking method
1. Cut a piece of pork fat into thin slices, toss them into a preheated pan and drain the fat.
2. When the lard has a golden hue, and there is enough fat in the pan, put the peeled and chopped potatoes in it. Stir fry it for a couple of minutes.
3. Peel and wash the vegetables. Finely chop peeled onions, parsnips, and sweet peppers. Coarsely grate the carrots. Put the vegetables in a pan and fry them until the onions are transparent.
4. Wash the mushrooms and cut them into plates. Put the mushrooms to the rest of the ingredients, cook everything together for another seven minutes.
5. Add sliced sausages and chopped garlic, mix and fry for just a couple of minutes. Now add sauerkraut to the pan, pre-squeezing it, and tomato paste. Pour in a little broth, salt and pepper. Stir and simmer. Stew the bigus for an hour, stirring it periodically and adding to the broth.
Recipe 6. Bigus with potatoes and stew
Ingredients
carrot - one pc.;
salt;
potatoes - five tubers;
black pepper;
600 g of fresh cabbage;
vegetable oil;
bow - head;
greenery;
400 g of stew;
60 g of tomato paste.
Cooking method
1. Remove the leafy leaves from the head, cut it in half and chop with thin noodles. Clean and wash the remaining vegetables. Grind onions into small cubes, and grate the carrots coarsely. Heat vegetable oil in a pan and put chopped vegetables into it. Sauté them for about ten minutes over moderate heat.
2. Now add tomato paste and chopped potatoes to the vegetables. Pour in quite a bit of drinking water and mix. Cover the pan and simmer the vegetables over low heat until the potatoes are soft.
3. Open a can of stew and put the contents to the rest of the vegetables, season with salt, pepper and mix, leave the bigus to stew for a couple of minutes.
Bigus with potatoes - tips and tricks
- Bigus will be richer if you cook it from a mixture of fresh and sauerkraut.
- To the taste of vegetables revealed, and the dish turned into a real treat, add a pinch of sugar.
- For acid, you can add a little citric acid to the bigus.
- Cook the bigus in a cauldron, slow cooker or pan with a thick bottom.
- Before you put the fresh cabbage in a cauldron, slightly salt and knead with your hands.
