Krokiety: Polish sauerkraut and mushroom croquettes for barszcz
The Christmas Eve croquettes: a thin crepe around a filling of sauerkraut stewed with dried forest mushrooms and onion, cooked dry so the croquette never goes soggy. Folded into parcels, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, fried golden. For clear red barszcz, but also for mushroom soup, or on their own.
Your own work in that: 1 h 55 min.
- Mushrooms soaking 30 min
- Filling 50 min
- Crepes 25 min
- Rolling 20 min
- Breading and frying 20 min
Step by step
0 / 8 done
Soak the mushrooms
Cover the mushrooms with 300 ml warm water for 30 minutes. Lift them out, strain the water through a sieve lined with kitchen paper (grit settles at the bottom) and keep it. Chop the mushrooms finely.
Mushrooms soaked, the water dark and fragrant
Cook the sauerkraut
Chop the sauerkraut finely (squeeze very sour kraut of its juice). Add the chopped mushrooms, pour over the mushroom water plus just enough plain water to barely cover, add the bay leaf and allspice. Simmer covered 35 minutes, until the sauerkraut and mushrooms are soft. Drain in a sieve, remove the bay leaf and allspice and squeeze hard.
Ingredients: 700 g sauerkraut · 30 g dried forest mushrooms · 300 ml water · 2 pcs onions · 40 g butter · 1 pcs bay leaf · 3 pcs allspice berries · 1 tsp black pepper · ½ tsp salt · 1 tsp sugar
TipA wet filling makes a soggy croquette that splits its coating. Squeeze until it stops dripping.
Sauerkraut with mushrooms, then squeezed hard
Fry the filling
Dice the onions finely and soften in butter. Add the sauerkraut and mushrooms and fry over medium heat 10 minutes, stirring, until the filling is dry and starts to brown lightly. Season with pepper, salt and sugar. Cool.
Filling dry, lightly browned
Make the crepes
Blend the batter ingredients smooth and rest 15 minutes (you can do this earlier, while the sauerkraut cooks). Fry 12 thin crepes in a 24 cm pan wiped with oil, a minute per side. Stack them.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 300 ml milk · 250 ml water · 2 pcs eggs · 2 tbsp oil · ½ tsp salt
TipCrepes for croquettes can be paler than dessert ones: they get fried a second time.
Twelve thin crepes
Roll the croquettes
Lay 2 heaped tablespoons of filling in a log across the lower part of a crepe. Fold the sides in and roll tightly. Rolled croquettes can be kept in the fridge until the next day.
Sides in, a tight roll
Coat
Beat the eggs in a shallow plate, spread the breadcrumbs on another. Dip each croquette in egg, then press into the breadcrumbs.
Ingredients: 2 pcs eggs · 150 g breadcrumbs · 150 ml oil
Egg, breadcrumbs, press
Fry
Heat a layer of oil about 3 mm deep in a pan. Fry the croquettes in batches of 4–6 over medium heat 2–3 minutes per side, until golden and crisp (about 15 minutes in all). Drain on paper towel.
TipHeat too high: dark crumbs, cold middle. The filling is already cooked; frying only heats it and makes the crust.
Golden both sides, hot inside
Serve
Hot, with a cup of clear red barszcz. Cold croquettes are re-fried the next day or baked 15 minutes at 180 °C.
Croquettes and barszcz: the Christmas Eve pair
Before you start
With button mushrooms
Replace the dried mushrooms with 400 g button mushrooms fried dry separately. Milder, but without the scent of the forest.
Freezing
Freeze rolled, uncoated croquettes layered with paper. Thaw them overnight in the fridge, then coat and fry as fresh: a frozen filling won't heat through before the coating browns.
With meat
The same crepe with a filling of minced boiled beef from the broth, onion and egg. Serve them with barszcz or with clear chicken broth.
Nutrition
per 100 gStep photos are computer-generated from the recipe.
