Kenji Morimoto’s recipes for fennel and cabbage sauerkraut and kraut and sausage stew

I’m craving easy, wholesome dishes that don’t compromise on flavour, and if time does the heavy lifting, so much the better. Enter my fennel and cabbage kraut sausage stew, a slow-cooker recipe that is truly as simple as throwing a handful of ingredients (with minimal prep) into a pot. The depth of flavour comes from the deliciously tangy ferment, and it’s delicious garnished with soured cream and your favourite chilli oil. Warm, nourishing and, best of all, it freezes well, too.

Fennel and cabbage sauerkraut

Kenji Morimoto’s fennel and cabbage sauerkraut.

To scale up this recipe (which you’ll most likely want to do, because I guarantee you’ll get through it quickly), simply follow the percentage of salt to the total weight of vegetables.

Prep 15 min
Ferment 2-5 weeks
Makes 1-litre jar

300g fennel
550g white cabbage
17g salt (or 2% of the total weight of the fennel and cabbage)
½ tbsp caraway seeds
½ tbsp fennel seeds

Thinly slice the vegetables with a knife or mandoline, then put them in a large bowl; feel free to use the core of the cabbage, too, but make sure it’s cut uniformly, so everything ferments at a similar pace.

Add 17g salt to the bowl and massage the mixture for five to 10 minutes, using a fair amount of pressure to optimise the brine. If you don’t see much brine in the bottom of the bowl, continue massaging and a pool of brine should eventually appear. Sprinkle over the caraway and fennel seeds, and mix again thoroughly.

Decant the kraut mix into a sterilised one-litre jar, packing it down to ensure there are no air pockets and so the brine gathers on top of the vegetables. Use a food-safe fermentation weight to ensure everything is held below the brine, then seal the jar and leave to ferment at room temperature and out of direct sunlight for two to five weeks. At the two-week mark, start tasting the sauerkraut and, once you’re pleased with its flavour and tang, move the jar to the fridge.

Fennel and cabbage kraut sausage stew with soured cream and chilli oil

This stew is customisable: use plant-based sausage, change up the beans or throw in other vegetables – if you do, just remember to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

To serve
Soured cream, or creme fraiche or greek yoghurt
Chilli oil

Heat the olive oil in a pan on a medium heat, then fry the crumbled sausagemeat for five to seven minutes, until it’s cooked through and browning; use a metal spatula to scrape up any residual bits (these equal flavour!), then transfer to a bowl.

In the same pan, cook the diced onion in the residual oil with a half-teaspoon of salt, stirring regularly, for five to seven minutes, until slightly caramelised.

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Put the cooked sausagemeat and caramelised onions in a slow cooker, add the cannellini beans, sauerkraut and chicken stock, and cook on low for six hours (or high for three hours).

Stir in the cavolo nero until it wilts in the residual heat, then season to taste and serve with a few dollops of soured cream and your favourite chilli oil.

• Kenji Morimoto’s book, Ferment: Simple Ferments and Pickles, and How to Eat Them, will be published by Pan Macmillan in April