Borscht Soup
Lifestyle NewsletterI don't think I realized how lucky I was to have my Aunt Tiley around when I was young. I could have learned so much about my Ukrainian heritage, but I was too young to have the foresight. My grandfather was Ukrainian, but he passed away before I was born so I never got the chance to know him. In light of what has been going on, I feel a great sadness for Ukrainian people and as well as a sense of helplessness. I know Ukraine is in a lot of our thoughts and prayers so I thought this month the recipe should be a celebration of the Ukrainian culture. My Aunt used to make Borscht soup a lot and it is a traditional Ukrainian recipe. My mother couldn't find her original recipe so we found one on the internet that was very close. If you decide to try it out, please share your thoughts with on us. I hope you enjoy!
P.S. My Aunt used to say the secret to why hers tasted so good was that her broth was made from boiled spare ribs. She would boil the spare ribs to make the broth and make sure to skim the fat scum off the top. If you go to the ifoodreal website where I found Olena's recipe there is a section near the bottom that talks about making your own broth.
Authentic Ukrainian Borscht Recipe
Sharing my grandma's Borscht Recipe I grew up on in Ukraine. This iconic beet soup is served with a dollop of sour cream and rye bread.
Course: Soup Cuisine: Ukrainian
Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 174kcal
Author: Olena Osipov
INGREDIENTS
12 cups beef or vegetable broth or stock low sodium 5 cups green or red cabbage thinly sliced
1 large onion chopped
3 medium carrots chopped 2 tbsp olive oil
3 large beets peeled and cut into matchsticks 4 large potatoes peeled and cubed
6 oz can tomato paste low sodium 2 tsp salt
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp white vinegar
Pinch of sugar or maple syrup 3 large garlic cloves grated Ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup dill or parsley finely chopped
Yogurt sour cream and rye bread, for serving
Instructions
1. In a large pot (I use 6 quart Dutch oven), add broth, bay leaves and bring to a boil. In the meanwhile, wash, peel and cut vegetables.
2. Once broth is boiling, add cabbage, cover and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes.
3. In the meanwhile, preheat large skillet on medium heat and swirl 1 tbsp of oil to coat. Add onion, carrots and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add beets, remaining 1 tbsp of oil and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Transfer sauteed veggies to a pot along with potatoes, tomato paste and salt. Cover, bring to a boil and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
6. Turn off heat. Add vinegar, sugar, garlic and pepper. Stir and let borscht sit for 10 minutes to allow flavours to marry each other. Add dill, stir and adjust any seasonings to taste.
7. Serve hot with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream, bread and garlic clove on the side (this is not for everyone).
Store and reheat: Refrigerate borscht in a large pot you cooked it in for up to 5 days. Reheat by simmering on low in small pot only amount you are planning to consume.
Freeze: Freeze in an airtight glass container for up to 3 months. Then thaw on a counter overnight and reheat.
Notes
Store bought stock: You can use regular stock from a carton. Preferably organic and low sodium, if you can.
Beef bones: If you choose to add meat, cook broth with ribs, soup bones or any cut with a bit of fat first. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour, skimming foam occasionally. After borscht is ready, remove meat, separate from bones and discard bones, finely chop and return meat to the pot.
Bone broth: This time I made Instant pot bone broth and used half of it diluted with water as a soup base.
Vegetarian: I make water based borscht more often than not because it's easy. In this case, I make sure to add a can of low sodium beans to up the protein, a bit more olive oil and maybe an organic bouillon cube, if I have it.
Beans: If not using meat, you can add a can of drained beans. Any large white, red kidney or pinto beans.
Sauerkraut: If you replace 2 cups of cabbage with 2 cups of sauerkraut, borscht will have even more umph.
Nutrition
Serving: 2cups | Calories: 174kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 647mg | Potassium: 731mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 3988IU | Vitamin C: 42mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 1mg
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Authentic Ukrainian Borscht Recipe - Borscht Soup