How to quickly and tasty cook bigus in a slow cooker

Behind the name “Bigus” or “Bigos”, unfamiliar to Russian ears, lies a hearty second course, popular in Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian cuisine. It consists of stewed sauerkraut and meat. The origin of the recipe is still debated - the Poles consider it their national dish, but there are assumptions that it came from the Principality of Lithuania in the 14th century. Since that time, more than a dozen recipes for bigus have been created, which means it’s definitely worth trying to cook.

Bigus with pork and rice in a slow cooker

This recipe differs from the classic one: it includes fattier pork and rice, which makes the dish much more satisfying and higher in calories than the classic one. But it’s just as tasty, so it’s definitely worth making.

Products:

• pork – ½ kg;
• onions and carrots;
• olive oil – 30 ml;
• fermented cabbage – 1.5 tbsp;
• fresh cabbage –250 gr;
• rice for pilaf – 2/3 cup;
• garlic cloves – 2 pcs.;
• water – 250 ml;
• salt – ½ tsp;
• bay and peppercorns - optional.

Time spent: 1 hour.

Calories: 120.

1. Cut the meat into portions and brown in olive oil in a slow cooker (“Fry” mode) for 7 minutes;
2. When frying meat, it must be stirred regularly so that it browns evenly;
3. Peel and wash the vegetables, chop the onion into cubes and chop the carrots into strips;
4. Throw all the vegetables into the slow cooker and fry for another 7 minutes;
5. Rinse the rice with running water;
6. When the “Frying” program is completed, add rice to the meat and vegetables and continue the program for 5 minutes;
7. Cook the pre-fermented cabbage and let it drain. You can additionally rinse and squeeze it out;
8. Mix shredded fresh cabbage with sauerkraut;
9. Add cabbage to the multicooker after completing the “Frying” mode;
10. Salt the bigus and add all the spices;
11. Set the “Soup” mode and let the bigus boil;
12. After boiling, switch to the “Stew” mode and let the dish simmer for half an hour;
13. After the signal, let the dish brew either in the heating mode or in the “Baking” mode.

How to cook bigus in a slow cooker correctly?

First, it’s worth understanding the key features of a foreign dish that has not yet become as familiar to Russian people as Italian pasta or English pudding. Bigus or bigos is almost always a mixture of fresh white cabbage and sauerkraut, which gives it an interesting taste and appearance. Moreover, the ratio is necessarily equal. Also:

• the meat component is traditionally pork, but game can also be used (smoked sausage, lard with meat inclusions are additionally added);
• the operating technology requires separate preparation of all ingredients and subsequent joint stewing;
• Bigos is always served with bread, mostly black;
• The consistency of the finished product is very thick, the taste is necessarily sour, and the prevailing note in the aroma is smoked.

It is noteworthy that this dish can be prepared for future use - some housewives even freeze it: after repeated heat treatment, it does not lose its taste. There are also many ways of serving: one of the traditional options is to serve hot bigos in a loaf of bread, from which almost all the crumb is taken out and the top is cut off, which then acts as a lid.

If we talk about additional components, then bigos can include not only cabbage and meat - mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, and prunes are added here. The meat is stewed in dry red wine and supplemented with spices, among which cumin and bay pepper are very popular. Some housewives use potatoes in bigus, although this contradicts the classic recipe, and instead of prunes they put plum jam.

Bigus with sausages in the Redmond unit

If there is no meat in the refrigerator, but there are sausages, then there will be bigus! After all, there is an alternative and economical recipe, and most importantly fast with the Redmond multicooker!

Compound:

• cabbage – 0.5 kg;
• carrots – 0.2 kg;
• smoked or boiled sausages – 5 pcs.;
• tomato paste – 1 tbsp. l;
• sunflower oil – 3 tbsp. l;
• bay leaf – 2 pcs.;
• water – ½ cup;
• a pinch of salt and ground pepper;
• a bunch of fresh dill.

Time spent: 45 minutes.

Calories: 55.

1. Prepare all products in advance;
2. Chop the cabbage into strips;
3. In the “Frying” mode, heat the oil in the multicooker bowl and fry the cabbage in it for up to 10 minutes;
4. Chop the carrots on a special shredder, and chop the onion as desired;
5. After the end of the program, add carrots and onions to the cabbage and extend the program for 8 minutes;
6. Pour water into the bowl and add spices;
7. Switch the device to the “Extinguishing” mode and set the timer for 20 minutes;
8. Cut the sausages into rings;
9. Add them and tomato paste to the slow cooker and simmer;
10. 5 minutes before the signal, add finely chopped dill to the bigus;
11. Serve bigus hot with porridge or potatoes.

Read our article on how to prepare juicy catfish cutlets.

Read how to cook tender pancakes stuffed with beef liver.

Take note of the simple step-by-step recipe for chicken pilaf, which is easy to prepare in a frying pan.

Cooking features

Even an inexperienced cook can prepare bigus with sausages. But still, in order for the dish to turn out truly tasty, without turning into just stewed cabbage, you need to know and take into account several points.

• On store shelves you will see dozens of names of sausages from a variety of manufacturers. They differ significantly in composition, appearance, and price. All these indicators need to be taken into account when making a purchase. When purchasing low-grade sausages at a very low price, you cannot expect that they will contain a lot of meat. Such sausages are most often loose and starchy, and artificial additives give them a pleasant aroma, taste and color. Even the best chef in the world cannot prepare a delicious bigus from such sausages. For this reason, it is better not to skimp on the main ingredient of bigus with sausages.
• The sour taste is one of the distinctive features of bigus. Most often, sauerkraut adds flavor to the dish. If you make bigus only from fresh cabbage, then use wine, tomatoes and other products that give the dishes a slight pleasant sourness.
• It is better to cook bigus in a thick-bottomed saucepan, cauldron or slow cooker. In this case, it will be more tender and fragrant.
• The bigus should not be too liquid, so use a minimal amount of water or other liquid. At the same time, you need to constantly monitor the dish so that it does not burn.
• After steeping, bigus turns out much tastier than freshly prepared. Therefore, it can be prepared in advance and only reheated the next day.

The technology for preparing bigus may vary depending on the recipe. In some cases, the sausages are first fried and only then combined with cabbage. According to other recipes, the cabbage is stewed or fried for some time before mixing it with sausages. However, if desired, neither the cabbage nor the sausages can be fried, but immediately mixed and simmered. But in this case, the taste will not be the same, although the dish will turn out to be dietary.

Sauerkraut bigus with chicken

A dietary version of stewed cabbage with simple chicken. This version of bigus is very economical and tasty. You can use either chicken fillet or any other part of the chicken.

Products:

• chicken – 450 gr;
• fresh cabbage – ½ kg;
• onions – 2 pcs. average;
• tomato paste – 70 g;
• sauerkraut – 2 tbsp;
• carrots – 3 pcs.;
• broth - 1.5 tbsp;
• oil – 50 g;
• garlic powder – 1 tsp;
• a bunch of parsley;
• spices.

Time required: 75 minutes.

Calorie content: 100 calories.

1. Wash the chicken fillet and cut into small pieces (2-3 cm). If other parts of the chicken are used, then cut the meat from the bone and also chop;
2. Throw butter into the multicooker bowl, melt it on the “Fry” mode and throw in the chicken;
3. Fry for 5 minutes until everything turns golden brown;
4. Throw in the onion cubes and carrot strips after 5 minutes;
5. Fry everything;
6. Mix the paste with the broth, season with spices and pour into the slow cooker with the chicken and vegetables;
7. Add sauerkraut immediately;
8. Finely chop fresh cabbage and sprinkle bigus on top;
9. Using a wooden or plastic spatula, stir everything well;
10. Cover with a lid, set the “Stew” program and timer for 40 minutes;
11. Finely chop the parsley, as well as the garlic cloves;
12. Throw the greens and garlic into the bigus after the signal for the end of stewing;
13. Mix;
14. Cover the multicooker and let the bigus brew for a few more minutes on the heating mode. Serve hot with a side dish of boiled potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 200 g sauerkraut;
• 350 g fresh white cabbage;
• 500 g lean pork (without lard) pulp;
• 300 g champignons;
• 60 g tomato paste;
• 80 g pitted prunes;
• about 1/4 cup rendered lard;
• table salt, onion, ground pepper, ground paprika, garlic, carrots - to taste.

• Cooking time is approximately 2 hours.

Recipe for vegetarians

Vegetable bigus is extremely popular among vegetarians, because it contains all the necessary nutrients and vitamins, and there is no meat at all.

Ingredients:

• sour cabbage – 250 g;
• young potatoes – 4 pcs.;
• onions – 2 pcs.;
• carrots – 4 pcs.;
• tomato paste – 10 g;
• water – 1 tbsp.;
• pea pods – 200 g;
• wild garlic greens;
• oil – 2 tbsp. l;
• spices - to taste;
• parsley – 200 gr.

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes.

Calories: 80.

1. Peel all vegetables;
2. Peel the potatoes or simply wash them well with a stiff brush. Slice it;
3. Chop the onions along with the carrots;
4. Rinse the sauerkraut under water and squeeze so that it does not release juice into the dish;
5. Set the multicooker to “Frying” and pour oil into the bowl;
6. Heat the oil for a couple of minutes and throw in the onions;
7. After a couple of minutes, add carrots to the bowl and fry the vegetables together;
8. Place the sauerkraut in a bowl and fry until it turns dark;
9. Finely chop the wild garlic and parsley and mix;
10. Add potatoes to the darkened cabbage and season everything with spices;
11. Mix the whole mass until smooth;
12. Add wild garlic with dill to the bowl and pour tomato paste mixed with water over everything;
13. In the multicooker menu, select the “Stew” mode and set the timer to 40 minutes;
14. Cover the device with a lid and simmer the dish;
15. After finishing, serve bigus.

Useful tips

Polish and Lithuanian housewives have been masterfully preparing bigus for a long time and have their own secrets that will help novice housewives. To make bigus in a slow cooker nutritious and tasty, you can use the following tricks:

1. Add sauerkraut along with fresh cabbage so that the dish does not turn out too sour;
2. Traditionally, fatty pork is used as the meat base, but it can be replaced with chicken, beef or smoked meats;
3. For vegetarian bigus, it is permissible to add onions, carrots, celery, and fried wild garlic along with cabbage or before adding it;
4. Bigus will become more nutritious if you add mushrooms to it - fresh or pickled;
5. Tomato paste is an essential ingredient and is always added to the dish. As an alternative, you can use tomatoes, ketchup or other tomato sauce;
6. In a multicooker, bigus is prepared in the stewing mode with preliminary frying in the “Frying” or “Baking” mode;
7. Instead of water, you can add vegetable or meat broth, tomato juice or sauce;
8. As spices you can use black pepper, bay leaf, cumin;
9. Do not add too much salt to the dish - due to the sauerkraut, it will already be quite salty;
10. It is believed that bigus should be ripe, so it should not be served immediately, but allowed to brew for a day in a cool place;
11. If the dish is not served immediately after cooking, it should be boiled again;
12. You can ferment sauerkraut yourself. It is especially tasty with lingonberries. But you can use a store-bought one, the main thing is to rinse it well before starting;
13. Smoked meats give the dish an incredible aroma and taste. You can take ham, smoked brisket, ribs, smoked hot sausages, etc.

Preparing bigus is quite simple, the main thing is to take fresh and tasty ingredients. With a multicooker, all the main work is preparing vegetables and putting them into the device. The technology will do the rest!

Description of preparation:

Bigus is tasty and healthy, bigus is satisfying and simple.
If you are the happy owner of a multicooker, but the recipe book does not contain such a delicious dish as bigus, then this recipe is especially for you. I offer you the simplest recipe for bigus in a slow cooker. All components are added at once, the multicooker cooks, and you relax and wait for a call from the smart device. Good luck and have a delicious lunch! Main ingredient: Meat / Vegetables / Cabbage Dish: Hot dishes / Bigus Geography of cuisine: Polish / Belarusian / Lithuanian / Latvian / European