Ep’s Red Cabbage

My mum (This is Jo here. My mum is called Elspeth, but everyone calls her Ep. Except me. I call her mum!), has always made this. I feel like she always has a tub of it in the freezer, ready to come out at any time to brighten up a autumn or winter roast. I think of this as her recipe, but it’s originally from a very old copy of a Katie Stewart cookbook in the chapter called “Cooking for the freezer”.

Ep’s Red Cabbage

(Makes loads, and is entirely dependent on the size of your red cabbage)

1 small red cabbage
Salt
25g butter
1 onion
2 large cooking apples
Some boiling water
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar (a bit less if you use eating apples, rather than cooking apples)
A handful of sultanas

1. Chop up the cabbage (removing the core and damaged outer leaves) and put in a bowl covered with cold salted water

2. Melt the butter in a large pan.

3. Peel and chop the onion. Add to the butter and fry for a few minutes until it’s soft.

4. Add the red cabbage lifted from the salt water.

5. Peel, core and chop that apples and add them to the pan.

6. Add enough boiling water to cover the bottom of the pan.

7. Add the vinegar, sugar and sultanas

8. Simmer for about 40 minutes until the cabbage is tender, occasionally squashing the apple chunks with a fork to break them up (not necessary if you use eating apples rather than cooking apples)

9. Check the seasoning, then enjoy!