Cooking Russian Borscht Together !

Hello, everyone ! My name is Karina. I`m from Russia. In this blog about food from all over the World i wanna share with you, guys, recipe one of the most popular, tasty and easy cooking Russian Soup. If you have any knowledge about Russian cuisine, u have guessed already that i`m talking about Borscht.

As Russia is mainly a northern country with long-lasting cold winter. The food should give us much energy and warmth to survive during the winter time. So, the essential components of Russian cuisine are the ones, which provide more carbohydrates and fat rather than proteins. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rarely used in food. So, the top five components of a Russian meal are potatoes, bread, eggs, meat (especially beef) and butter.

Borscht it is a red vegetable soup, one of the most popular soups across the vast region of Eastern Europe. Someone says that originally it came from Poland, Ukrainian people says it is their innovation. Anyway everyone cooks it with its own intricacies and peculiarities. Here I am offering you a Russian Recipe of this delicious healthy soup.

Enjoy it !

Russian Borscht recipe

Ingredients:

( Serves 6)

1 pound boneless beef, cut into serving size pieces (if you can find large bone-in chunks of beef, even better)

5 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped1 medium beet (about 1/2 pound / 300 g, peeled and grated on a coarse side of a box grater
2 medium carrots (1/2 pound / 300 g), peeled and grated on a coarse side of a

box grater2 tablespoons tomato paste

3-4 dried bay leaves4 cups shredded cabbage (1 1/2 pound cabbage / 700 g)

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges or cubes

2 cups chopped fresh parsley (make it more or less, to taste)
salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste

1. Make a stock by boiling beef in a large saucepan filled with about 20 cups water. Remove any froth that may surface to top. Cook until the meat it tender (depending on your beef, it will take from 20 minutes to 40 minutes). Strain the stock. Rinse out the saucepan and put the stock and the meat back in it.

2. In a medium frying pan, heat the butter or oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for about 5 minutes, or until soft.

3. Add the grated beets and carrots and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, until they are just tender. Add the tomato paste, salt and pepper to taste, then stir to mix and cook for 5 minutes more.

4. Add the cooked vegetables to the stock with meat and toss in the bay leaves. If there is not much stock left, add water to it. There should be about 12 cups of liquid in the pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Add the cabbage, potatoes, and chopped parsley, and cook until the cabbage is soft and the potato is cooked, about 25 minutes. Remove the bay leaves. Adjust seasoning to taste.

5. Ladle into individual serving plates and top with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream.

Have a great meal !!!