Dear gentle men! Today I want to tell you about our traditional dish - borsht ! “You can’t call yourself Russian if you don’t like Borscht!”



Borscht is the most popular soup in Russia and Ukraine. There are many different ways to make it. It mostly depends on personal preferences, but one ingredient you cannot exclude are beets. Beets give the soup that reddish-purple color. This color is what makes it a “Borscht”.



Borscht originated in Eastern European countries during Medieval times. Ukrainians count Borscht as their national soup. Borscht is “soup of the poor”, all of the ingredients that it includes were cheap, and even very poor people could afford it. This soup never appeared on the royal tables as even the royal servants didn’t consume this soup. Borscht is very vitamin rich and very affordable soup, which helped poor people survive during the cold winters.



This soup has many different recipes. Vegetarian borscht, made only with vegetables, is a very healthy and light soup. All of the vegetables contained in the soup contain tons of valuable nutrients, which is life's blood for people trying hard to diet. Some people decide not to watch their calories and opt to make their Borscht with a meat broth. Meat borscht tends to be more satisfying as it has a lot more calories than the vegetarian variety. It gives you more of a “full feeling”, and so a good bowl of meat borscht would go perfectly as a main dish for dinner.



I bet now you can’t wait to try it. Here is one of the simplest recipes for Borscht.



Ingredients

8 cups beef broth

1 pound slice of meaty bone-in beef shank

1 large onion, peeled, quartered

4 large beets, peeled, chopped

4 carrots, peeled, chopped

1 large Russet potato, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 cups thinly sliced cabbage

3/4 cup chopped fresh dill

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 cup sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Bring 4 cups of the beef broth, the beef shank, and onion to boil in large pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meat is tender, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Transfer meat to work surface; trim fat, sinew and bone and discard. Chop meat; cover and chill. Cool broth slightly. Chill in pot until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Spoon fat from top of chilled broth and discard. Add remaining 4 cups broth, beets, carrots, and potato; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Stir in meat, cabbage and 1/2 cup dill; cook until cabbage is tender, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in vinegar.

Ladle soup into bowls. Top with sour cream and remaining 1/4 cup dill.

Sounds delicious, isn’t it? Oh you cannot imagine how good it smells and taste. Russian cuisine has many more interesting recipes, ask your Russian bride to surprise you with one of the Russian dishes. Trust me, you will enjoy it a lot!

Bonne Appetite!