Place the sauerkraut in a sieve and rinse with cold water. This is to wash some of the sourness away so that it's not too overpowering in the stew. Put the rinsed sauerkraut in a big saucepan.

Add enough water to cover the sauerkraut well. Twice the water should be more than enough. Cook the sauerkraut with 2-3 roughly chopped cloves of garlic, the cooking time is around 30 minutes or until the sauerkraut is soft. Also add paprika, smoked paprika, bay leaves, marjoram and vegetable stock cube, giving all these ingredients enough time to release flavours into the stew.

While sauerkraut is cooking peel the potatoes and chop them into equal pieces.

Clean the carrot and slice it. Put it in a saucepan with potatoes, cover with water and boil for around 10 minutes or until potatoes are soft (this will depend on the size of the pieces you cut). Once cooked, drain and set aside.

Slice the onion and gently fry it in enough rapeseed oil, until soft.

Add chopped garlic (2-3 cloves) and make sure there is enough oil left for it to gently fry it until it releases the flavour and softens a bit. This should be very quick. Add more oil if needed.

5 minutes before the sauerkraut is cooked add the cooked potatoes, half of them mashed with the fork - this will help to thicken the stew.

Next, add the drained black beans. You could use their liquid if the stew feels too thick.

Finally, just a few minutes before the stew is ready, add the fried onion and garlic.

Season with salt and pepper, as needed.

Leave it to stand in a saucepan for at least 30 minutes. It will taste better thereafter.