How To Cook Borsch

Borsch is one of the specialties of the Slavic peoples. Originating on the territory of Ukraine, this first dish entered the cuisine of many neighboring nations: Belarusians, Russians, Poles, Lithuanians, each of these nations has its own recipe for making borscht. They may differ from each other in ingredients, cooking time and certain techniques, but they all have in common the presence of beets, which underlies this soup.

Borscht can be cooked from meat, prepared for a lean table, fresh tomatoes or tomato paste, celery, lentils, beans can be added to it, most of the ingredients are given to the cook's imagination, but the main thing is that it has a rich red color and a pronounced taste beets.

In order to cook borscht with a rich taste and color, you need to have some knowledge and experience, but we will provide several recipes that will help you cook delicious borscht that will amaze all members of your family and make you the queen of this dish.

Ukrainian borsch

This recipe is cooked in a 4 liter saucepan, so:

Ingredients:

Beef on the bone - 1 kg.

Beets - 3 pcs.
Potatoes - 3 pcs.
Cabbage - 300 gr.
Carrots - 1 pc.
Onions - 1 pc.
Tomato paste - 3 tbsp l.
Garlic - 3 cloves
Vinegar - 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Greens to taste
Vegetable oil to taste
Sour cream for dressing - to taste
Water - 2 liters.

Rinse the meat, put it in boiling water and cook for 1.5 hours, removing the foam, so that the broth becomes transparent.

While the meat is being cooked, let's prepare other foods. We peel the beets and cut them into cubes, do the same with the onions.

Grate the carrots. Shred cabbage.

Fry the beets for 3-5 minutes in vegetable oil. Then add vinegar and tomato paste and simmer for another 7 minutes. If the tomato paste is thick, you can dilute it with water.

After finishing cooking the beets, in the same pan, previously washed or another, fry the onion until golden brown, then add the carrots to it and fry until the vegetables become soft.

After the meat is tender, remove it from the pan, separate from the bones and cut into small pieces. It is better to strain the broth so that it becomes completely transparent.

Put meat in strained broth and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper, peel potatoes, dice and add to broth. After the broth has boiled, put the cabbage in it and let it cook for about 7 minutes. Then add the beets and cook over low heat for another 10 minutes.

At the very end, add overcooked onions and carrots. Add bay leaves. Cook for 3 minutes. The borsch is ready. Remove from heat but do not serve. Add squeezed garlic, herbs and let it brew for 15 minutes.

Now you can serve it on the table, decorated with sour cream.

Lenten borsch

You can cook borscht in mushroom broth for a lean table, but if you do not have good dried mushrooms, then you can cook a rich and aromatic first course from only vegetables, its taste will be unique, the main thing is to choose sweet and rich beets. This food set is taken in a 6 liter pot.

Ingredients:

Beets - 2-3 pcs.

Carrots - 1 pc.
Onions - 1 pc.
Cabbage - half a head of cabbage
Sweet red pepper - 1 pc.
Tomato - 1 pc.
Tomato paste - 2-3 tbsp l.
Potatoes - 1-2 pcs.
Garlic - 3-4 cloves
Adjika - 2 tsp.
Lemon - 1 pc.
Greens to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Water - 4 liters.

Finely chop onion, peppers and carrots grate. Fry in vegetable oil.

Chop the cabbage finely.

Pour water into a saucepan, bring to a boil, then add overcooked onions, carrots and peppers and cabbage.

Grate the beets, fry in vegetable oil until fully cooked, add tomato paste, mix thoroughly and add lemon juice just before the end.

Chop the tomato, herbs and garlic.

Fry the tomato until juice appears in a pan, where onions, carrots and peppers were fried.

Add the beets to the boiling vegetable broth, let it boil, then the tomato, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add adjika, salt and spices. Let it boil, add herbs, garlic and let it brew for at least 30 minutes.

A characteristic feature of this borscht is the moment that it acquires the richest taste on the second day.

Serving borsch, traditionally, is better with sour cream.

Cold borsch

Borscht is a dish that can be eaten not only hot, but also cold, in the sweltering summer heat it relieves thirst and brings a feeling of satisfaction.

Ingredients:

Meat broth - 700 ml.

Water - 700 ml.
Beets - 2 pcs.
Carrots - 2 pcs.
Vinegar - 3 tsp.
Green onions - 1 bunch
Cucumbers - 3 pcs.
Boiled eggs to taste
Sugar - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Dill - to taste
Sour cream - for dressing

All vegetables must be washed, peeled and grated.

Put carrots and beets in a pan, pour hot water and simmer until tender over low heat.

Finely chop the onion and greens.

Add the beets and carrots to the broth, add the water left over from the stewing, add salt and sugar, bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Cool down. Serve with grated egg, cucumbers and chopped herbs. Don't forget to add sour cream.

Borscht with chicken

We can say that this recipe is a dietary version of borscht.

Ingredients:

Chicken legs - 0.5 kg

Beets - 1 pc.
Carrots - 1 pc.
Cabbage - 0.5 kg
Potatoes - 4 pcs.
Onions - 1 pc.
Sweet red pepper - 1 pc.
Garlic - 4 cloves
Tomato paste - 2 tbsp l.
Parsley - to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Bay leaf - several leaves
Sour cream - for dressing.

Put the washed chicken legs in cold water and put on a small fire. When the water starts to boil, remove the foam. While the meat is cooking, cook the vegetables.

Peel the onion, cut it in half and add it to the broth, put the black peppercorns and bay leaf there. Salt and cook for 30-40 minutes.

Chop the cabbage, cut the sweet pepper into thin strips, rub the beets and carrots on a coarse grater. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes.

When the meat is ready, remove the onion and chicken from the broth. Separate the chicken meat from the bone and put it back in the broth, adding the beets to it.

In a frying pan, fry carrots and bell peppers in vegetable oil until golden brown. Add tomato paste to them, mix everything thoroughly and send it to the pan.

Then add cabbage and potatoes to the broth.

Peel and cut the garlic into three parts, send them to the broth.

We close the borscht with a lid and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are ready. A few minutes before cooking, add finely chopped parsley.

After the borsch is ready, do not rush to serve it to the table, let it infuse for an hour, and after that it will be ready to serve, arousing admiration among your family.

Borscht with mushrooms and broccoli

This version of borsch is also suitable for a lean table, since there is no meat in it.

Ingredients:

Fresh mushrooms - 6 pcs.

Beets - 1 pc.
Carrots - 1 pc.
Onions - 1 pc.
Sweet red pepper - 1 pc.
Cabbage - 200 gr.
Broccoli - several inflorescences
Bay leaf - to taste
Tomato paste - 2 tbsp l.
Garlic - 1-2 cloves
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Put mushrooms in boiling water, as the foam forms, you need to carefully remove it.

Chop potatoes, cabbage, peppers, onions, carrots and beets and grate.

Add potatoes and cabbage to boiling chicken broth.

In a frying pan, fry onions, carrots, beets and peppers, add tomato paste, salt, pepper, bay leaf to them, if necessary add a little water and simmer for 20 minutes. If the beets are not sweet enough, you can add a little sugar to the vegetables, as well as put the crushed garlic.

After that, add them to the broth, put broccoli in the same place, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.

In order for the borscht to have a rich taste, it needs to be infused for at least 15 minutes, ideally this time should take about an hour. Although we all understand that it is very difficult to resist fragrant borscht.

Enjoy your meal

As you can see from the recipes given, each housewife has her own borscht, since this dish opens up wide possibilities for imagination. Other borscht recipes can be found on our website.

Author: Vira (specially for Calorizator.ru)

Copying of this article in whole or in part is prohibited.

How To Cook Borsch

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