Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup with Meatballs

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup with Meatballs

Ingredients:
Soup:
1 large cabbage, shredded
1-2 carrots, shredded (or use 2 lbs pre-shredded coleslaw mix instead of the cabbage and carrots)
2 lbs sauerkraut, with liquid
1 large can tomato juice
1 can water
Salt to taste
1-2 tsp peppercorns (or to taste)
1-2 tsp dill weed (or more to taste)
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup lemon juice

Meatballs:
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, minced fine
1/4 cup raw rice
1 egg
Salt, pepper and dill weed to taste

Directions:
Put cabbage, carrots, sauerkraut, raisins, liquids and spices in a large pot. Bring to a boil.
Add brown sugar and lemon juice. Cook until cabbage is soft and flavors are blended. Adjust seasoning to taste (this may involve more sugar and lemon juice).
For the meatballs: Mix all ingredients together. Shape into meatballs and cook in the cabbage soup.

Variation (Sweet and Sour Stuffed Cabbage):
Prepare meatballs as above. Prepare cabbage soup as above, but strip off the large outer leaves of the cabbage and shred only the inner portion. Blanch the large leaves to soften, and fold each one carefully around a portion of the meat mixture. Place each cabbage roll carefully into the cooking soup and cook about 3 hours or until done.
This soup keeps well in the fridge, reheats well, and freezes well too.