Vegan MoFo Day 15 - haluski

My husband’s family is half Polish. So, there are many yummy (my favorite word I think) dishes from his mom’s side of the family.  Haluski is one of my favorites and was always a part of Christmas Eve dinner.  I remember asking Aunt Rita about how to make it and I distinctly remember her saying its better with a lot of butter.  It’s really not that hard to make and tastes even better the next day. 

Haluski

1 large onion chopped

4 tablespoons vegan butter

1 small/medium head of cabbage chopped in about 1 inch chunks

1 tsp. salt (or to your own taste)

½ cup of water

1 lb. box of bow tie pasta

¼ tsp. pepper

2 tablespoons vegan butter (to make it yummier)

Cook the onions in the vegan butter until soft and starting to caramelize in a big pot.  Add the chopped cabbage, salt and water.  Stir until the cabbage is well coated with the onion mixture.  

Cover and cook on medium heat until cabbage is tender.  Stir every so often to make sure it doesn’t stick to bottom of pot and add water if necessary.  (I usually do.) 

While cabbage and onion mixture is cooking cook the bow tie pasta according to the package.  Make sure to salt the pasta water too – about 1 tsp.  I like my pasta soft for this dish so I definitely do not cook it al dente.  Drain.

Once the cabbage is really soft add all of the cooked pasta to the pot.  Stir well.  Add the pepper and extra vegan butter. 

Dave’s mom and Aunt Rita would make this dish at least a day ahead and just reheat it in the oven.  You can also use any type of pasta you want.  I would just recommend a short flat noodle.  I think many traditional recipes use egg noodles but I’ve always made mine with the bow ties or farfalle.  Aunt Rita would make the noodles so soft they would just break up and meld into the cabbage and onions.  

I’m thinking I will try to post family recipes on Sundays.  I have my version of vegan stuffed cabbage (golumkies)  I need to make a list of Dave’s family Polish recipes and how I can make them plant base versions.  i.e. belinis (potato pancakes), poppy seed roll,  I am half Dutch and the other half consists of (Canadian, Scottish, Irish and English,)  So, I have a few family favorites I’d like to figure out how to make them good for me to eat too!