Kapustnica - slovak christmas soup

Ingredients

• 700 ml sauerkraut
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 1 spiced dry sausage
• 150 g ham
• Handful of dried porcini, steeped in cold water
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablepsoon all-purpose flour
• 2 tablepsoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablepsoon powdered sweet paprika
• 1 tablepsoon dark raisins or 1 tablepsoon prune jam
• 2 l boiling water

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Preparation

• In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons oil and fry the chopped onion. Add flour and stir until well-blended.
• Add paprika and immediately pour in the boiling water (or else the paprika would burn and become bitter). Stir and bring to a boil.
• Add dried porcini, sausage and ham. Cook under a lid until ham and sausage are tender (10 to 20 minutes depending on size).
• Take out the ham ans sausage when ready and set aside.
• Add sauerkraut to the soup and cook under a lid until sauerkraut is tender, depending on type of sauerkraut.
• We cooked ours for almost an hour, but if the sauerkraut was initially tender, it might be done in 15 minutes!
• When the sauerkraut is almost ready, add grated garlic and prune jam. Check if you need to season the soup with salt.
• Cut the cooked ham and sausage into pieces. Return them into saucepan and remove saucepan from heat.