Pour the oil into a big cooking pot and on high heat saute the diced onion with salt until it gets a translucent/glassy look for about 3 - 5 minutes.
Mix in the pork and then try to stir most of the onion out from under the meat. Let the meat sear a minute or so while keeping an eye on the onion around it.
When the meat browned add the black pepper, diced garlic, parsley, bay leaf, paprika, tomato and optional basil.
Mix well, add water. Place a lid on then bring the water to boil.
Reduce heat to medium low and cook the meat until soft and tender, about 60 - 90 minutes.
Mix in the sauerkraut. Not every sauerkraut has been created equal. Before adding sauerkraut to the meat, squeeze the brine out. A short rinse under the tap also would work wonders but keep in mind that this is a naturally sour dish. Add some water until the food is around halfway under the broth. Bring it to boil and cook it for 2 minutes without the lid on, on low heat. This allows some of the strong-smelling hydrogen sulfite gas, that is emitted during cooking, to dissipate. Put the lid back on then cook it for 8 more minutes. Sauerkraut is edible straight out of the jar so it doesn’t really need any cooking time. We only need to cook it for the flavors come together nicely.
The dish is ready to be served but we can take the meat out and put it under the broiler for a short time to get a more presentable color.