Recipes From Russia: Borscht Stew – Kyle Style

Sveta loves borscht and so do I, but I love stews and most Russian soups are to thin and runny for me. So I take the Russian recipes and alter them to fit my taste and Sveta’s at the same time. I give her the taste she knows and loves and I give me, the stew I love also…

One of the favorites that I like to make is Beet Stew or as in those in Russia will say, “Borscht!”

Borscht is a meal and good for you to boot. Lets make Borscht Stew: Kyle Style…

Ingredients:

1. A big fat fresh red beet or two medium ones… (peeled and sliced in big chucks)

2. Two big white onions… (peeled and sliced in big chunks)

3. Two large Russian Green Peppers… (sliced in big chunks – any green pepper will do and in fact any pepper will do period. Yellow, red, hot what ever…)

4. 1 pound cheap meat… (anything and make it cheap and with some fat…)

5. 1 big carrot… (chopped big!)

6. salt and pepper to taste…

Lets make a stew:

Take a large soup pot or pan (at least a gallon worth), fill half full of water and start heating at medium on a stove top. Add the meat and cook for at least two hours, covered. I expect cheap tough meat for this, so if you buy expensive stuff, then change your cooking times. Russians are use to tough meat and so am I…

Take lid off the pot after two hours and add water if necessary to bring level back to the half full mark. Then add onions, peppers, beets, carrots and salt and pepper. Cover and put on low for 4 hours. Stir and check water level occasionally…

Now if meat is not falling apart at this point, then cut it up with a knife. Then keep cooking the soup without a lid at this point. In two more hours it should be done. In the last few hours do not add anymore water to the soup and allow it to thicken…

The beets should be turning white colored as the red bleaches out and onions should be liquified at this point, as the peppers will be also. The carrots should hang in there, if you cut them big enough and they should just be trying to crumble from over cooking about now. The beets will hang in there for a long time and keep their shape…

So after about 8 hours of cooking and stirring real good at the end. You should have a thickened soup with just some visible chunks of carrots, beets and maybe chunks of meat. Serve hot and with a good size spoonful of sour cream. No, a much bigger spoon than that! Okay then two good size spoons of sour cream. That’s better… 🙂

Plus I like a big slice of black-bread to go with it…

It is purple, thick and Yummy…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…