Colorful Sauerkraut Salad

Have you ever made sauerkraut from scratch with your bare feet? No worries, my recipe doesn’t call for this action, but I have fond childhood memories of it that I feel like sharing with you. When I was little, I was very proud to be the one who got to stomp sauerkraut in a specific crock. Even though it was a rather simple task, it felt very important to me. There was the foot-washing ‘ceremony’, the being lifted into the big crock filled with salted white cabbage and, most importantly, the stomping itself before the kraut was left alone to ferment. Altogether, this old-fashioned method of making sauerkraut was a lot of fun and responsibility for me because the outcome highly depended on my stomping skills … well, at least I thought so! The sauerkraut for this recipe simply comes from a store-bought jar and the preparation for this delicious, flavorful immune booster salad is super quick and easy. No stomping, I promise!

Ingredients: (for 4 servings)

• 1 lb (450 g) sauerkraut plus some of the liquid
• 3 red mini peppers, thinly sliced into half-rings or 1 small red pepper, cored seeds removed, diced
• 1 large stick of celery, diced
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 4 Tbsp minced parsley
• ¾ cup (180 ml) vegetable broth (preferably prepared with homemade veggie broth concentrate)
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp sambal oelek (make sure it’s vegan!)
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

Cut vegetables and place with sauerkraut into a medium-size bowl.

Heat vegetable broth in a small saucepan. No need to boil!

Stir maple syrup and sambal oelek into the broth and pour over sauerkraut and veggies.

Add extra virgin olive oil and mix very well. Enjoy!

Notes:

• If you can resist, give the flavors some time to mingle! One hour at room temperature already makes a difference. It’s even better the next day, but store covered in the fridge!
• Delicious all by itself as a healthy snack, as a topping on your mixed salad, in raw spring rolls, or on a salad buffet.
• It will keep for at least 3 days in the fridge but, don’t worry, it won’t last that long!