As promised, more of the wonderful works of Fania Lewando, adapted for the vegan palate and sensibility!  This time featuring that quintessential Eastern European staple to keep the cabbage crop through the winter months : sauerkraut.  If you’re lucky and love slow food like me, you grown your own cabbages and have a steady supply of home-fermented sauerkraut and kimchi sitting in the basement fridge for the meagre months.  If not, most groceries now offer a few varieties of the real stuff, still full of probiotic goodness, in the natural or organic produce section.  Either way, this side dish is a nice tart counterpart to a multitude of main plates or the path to making your vegan Reuben sandwich memorable.

Yield: 4 as a side dish or 8 as a condiment

What you need:

• 1 large onion, halved and finely sliced lengthwise
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups sauerkraut (if you want the dish not quite as sour, drain and rinse the sauerkraut, if you like sour and the kraut is a bit on the drier side, you can use it as is)
• 1/2 cup vegan sour cream (I like cashews fermented in rejuvelac, but any non-dairy sour cream you like will work)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons flour (whole grain preferred, I like oat or barley flour)
• 1-1/2 tablespoons maple syrup (seems weird, but it balances the sourness so do use it.  The original recipe calls for white sugar, but this blog is called Crunchy Cooking and I couldn’t bring myself to use a sweetener so refined…)

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat.  When the pan is hot, add the oil and onion and sauté until soft and translucent.
3. Transfer the onion to an 8 x 8 glass or ceramic baking dish and mix it with the sauerkraut.
4. In a measuring cup, whisk together the vegan sour cream, flour and maple syrup.  Pour it over the cabbage and onion mixture in the baking dish and toss to coat.  Spread it out in the dish evenly.
5. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
6. Serve.