Tushkovana kapusta z hrybamy

The story

On Christmas Eve Ukrainian families wait for the first star before sitting down to Sviata Vecheria, the Holy Supper of twelve dishes made without meat, dairy, eggs, or animal fat. Braised cabbage with mushrooms is one of the plainest of the twelve, and Ukrainian writers on the holiday say that cabbage stands for simplicity, the strength of the family, and its unity. Cooks start with fresh cabbage, sauerkraut, or both and enrich it with mushrooms; dried forest mushrooms, which the Carpathian west of the country favors, give the pot its deep, woodsy flavor. Some families stir in mashed peas instead, or add prunes and a little honey. On the holy evening the dish is cooked with oil alone, and the same cabbage may return on Christmas Day with meat. It goes to a table set with a sheaf of wheat called the didukh, with wisps of hay under the cloth in memory of the manger. Ukrainian families around the world, those in North America among them, keep the supper too, and a pot of kapusta is among the easiest of the twelve dishes to hand from one generation to the next.