Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A Polish Octapus

At Bella's school we were asked to bring in a snack that incorporated part of our heritage or culture, so Bella and I made a Polish dish of sauerkraut, hot dogs, and dumplings. I turned it into a "Polish Octopus", just to get the kids to try it- trying to be clever. My grandfather (on my Dad's side) came over from Poland when he was a little boy. Cabbage is used in a lot of Polish dishes. I sweetened the sauerkraut some by adding a hint of brown sugar to it, so that the kids might like it more- bad chef- but hey, out of 8 kids that tried it, 5 of them gave it a thumbs up and 3 kids gave it a thumbs down- not bad. Unfortunately, Bella was one of the three- we'll have to work on her some more- maybe sneak it into something :) In my Sadowski family, we always eat this dish on New Years- I guess to provide good luck for the rest of the year. It's one of my favorite dishes.
Recipe:
Take 1 jar of sauerkraut and dump it into a big and deep sauce pan. Add one jar of water (equal parts sauerkraut and water). Salt and pepper to taste- I like lots of pepper. I added 2 tablespoons of brown sugar to make it sweeter and not so bitter. Add a pack of hot dogs. (I cut my hot dogs into 4 lengthwise strips to make the tentacles of the octopus.) Heat to boil, then reduce to simmer. Mix one package of Bisquick with water indicated on the package to make biscuits. Drop the dough into small balls using a spoon onto the hot dog/sauerkraut mixture. Cook for  10 minutes on simmer without a lid. Then for 10 more minutes on simmer with a lid. Done. Enjoy!

1 comment:

Colleen said...

Just a little hint my mother-in-law gave me. Try also chopping up an apple (very finely) and some onion.

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