Easy Homemade Borscht is a Healthy and Hearty Meal

Borscht is a traditional Russian sweet and sour beet soup. Yes, the woman who professed to hate beets is posting a beet soup recipe. And it is delicious.

I modified this recipe from The Yul Brynner Cookbook: Food Fit for the King and You, a marvelous book with Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Hungarian (Gypsy) and more recipes.

This can be served chilled in the summer time. But, I have to say, this Borscht was awesome steaming hot straight out of the pot. And filling!

Borscht ( Russian Beet Soup)

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Ingredients

 

• 1 tablespoons butter or olive oil
• 1 cup onion (diced)
• 8 cups beef stock
• 4 large beets (peeled, sliced and cut in 1/4)
• 2 tomatoes (cut into large chunks)
• 2 carrots (cut in 1/4 inch slices)
• 1 celery stalk (diced)
• 1 small turnip (peeled and diced)
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1-2 tablespoon sugar or no sugar sweetener
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 pound diced cooked ham or beef (optional)

Instructions

 

• In a large stock pot, sauté onions in butter/oil until translucent. Add stock and all of the chopped vegetables.
• Simmer until vegetables are tender, approximately 20 minutes depending on how small you diced them. 
• Add vinegar, sugar and bay leaves. Simmer for 20 minutes.
• Remove bay leaves and add meat. Cook until meat is heated (about 5 minutes). Salt and Pepper to taste.
• Serve immediately with a scoop of sour cream. Or in summer, chill and serve cold with some sliced cucumbers that have been peeled and seeded.

Until next time, stay warm (or cool if you are visiting us in the summer) and happy eating.
~Audrey