Traditional Ukrainian Borscht Recipe
recipe by Anastasia Sakawsky, The House and Homestead
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of diced celery
- 1 cup diced onions
- 1 cup of chopped cabbage
- 2 cloves of garlic grated or pressed
- 1 tablespoon of butter for sautéing onions and celery
- 8 cups water, vegetable broth, beef broth, or chicken broth
- 14 ounces diced tomatoes
- 2 or 3 medium-to-large sized peeled beets half grated and half diced
- 1 or 2 medium carrots grated
- 1 medium potato diced
- 1/2 cup of fresh dill (or 2 tbsp. + 2 tsp. dried dill)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Optional ingredients: Bay leaf green beans, peas, beet greens and shredded pork or pork sausage
Directions:
- Sauté the onions, celery and cabbage with the butter until soft and translucent.
- Add the can of diced tomatoes and the garlic, as well as all of the water or broth.
- Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce to medium heat and let simmer.
- Peel the beets, carrots and potato. Dice half the beets and grate the other half. Grate all the carrots. Dice the potato.
- Add the beets, carrots and potato to the broth. If you would like to add any other optional vegetables (ie. beans, peas, beet greens, etc.) do so now.
- Allow soup to simmer on medium until diced beets and potatoes are soft (test them with a fork or by biting into them!), about 15 minutes. Remove soup from heat.
- Stir in chopped fresh dill weed and salt and black pepper.
- Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream and a slice of bread with butter. Makes 6 servings.
What a perfect hot, healthy dish to serve on a chilly evening!
