borscht served (Photo credit: Muffet)
Many times Sveta and I just do not want a meat dish and that includes the soup called Borscht. In Russia, Borscht is considered a meal and nothing else, but black bread and sour cream necessary to eat a delicious meal, but the issue with Borscht is that it usually has meat of some type in it…
Well even Russians do not always want meat in everything they fix and I decided to make a Vegetarian Borscht for Sveta and she loved it. Then she told me how her mom would do the same many times and just exclude meat from the recipe…
So lets make a Veggy Borscht, my way…
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 – 2 large onion, cut into 1/4 inch dice
10 small beets or 7 -8 medium beets, peeled and diced
3 medium carrots, peeled and shredded
1/2 small green cabbage, shredded
2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
3 fresh tomatoes diced, crushed, smashed and or what ever
2 tablespoons salt
1/4 cup of sugar
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
3 or 4 sprigs fresh parsley
sour cream
Directions:
In a stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat. Stir in the onions and cook, stirring occasionally for 3 to 4 minutes, then add the beets, carrots, parsnip, celery root, 8 cups water and bring to a boil…
Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Raise the heat and stir in the cabbage, garlic and tomatoes. Return to a boil…
Lower the heat and simmer for 5 more minutes…
Remove from the heat and Stir in the salt and pepper…
Then with a lid on the stock pan, let the soup cool for about half and hour. Then apply heat again and bring to a quick boil. I feel that this makes for a more flavorful soup and stops the veggies from become so easily mushed…
Just as you take the soup off the stove as it is boiling the last time, add the sugar! Now I do not add sugar and Sveta never has a complaint. Russians swear by the sugar in the soup, so I will tell you to add it… 🙂
Then stir once twice and everything is nice, then serve piping hot and add the dollop (I like a big, no bigger, no bigger dollop) of sour cream and a parsley sprig at the table, then enjoy!
Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…
Related articles
- Simple Belushi a Almost Russian Recipe of Taste Bud Delight… (windowstorussia.com)
- Remember when we had a Blue Moon? (windowstorussia.com)
- The World is More Important… (windowstorussia.com)