Traditional simplicity: Borsch

Being Russian, I could not but start my cooking abroad with making borsch. Traditional and simple, this beetroot soup is perfect for someone as lazy about cooking as I am. Ingredients are all essentials and easy to find anywhere – I had no problems shopping at my new local grocery here in the States. “Smetana” (sour cream) I got from a Russian store (there are a few of them here in San Jose) and it tasted pretty authentic. Haven’t tried American sour cream yet but if you have no Russian store nearby you may want and use your local version – it does add more flavor to the soup.

What I also like about borsch is that you can store it and enjoy for several days – I personally like it next day better, as it becomes richer in flavor, and plus it saves a lot of time and effort: just a dream for an anti-cooking fanJ Unfortunately, in the States people want something new every day and the idea of freezing something and having the same soup 2-3 days in a row sounds like a nightmare. Oh well, I got lucky: Dave likes borsch and can live with it for a while;) The kids, however, were not that enthusiastic: Trinity doesn’t eat soups at all and Xavier enjoyed the cooking process more than eating. But American kids eating habits are a whole different story…

Every Russian woman has her own borsch recipe but since I have foreign friends who may want to try cook something Russian I am posting my version of borsch here.

BORSCH

Ingredients:

• ½ head of cabbage
• 1 carrot
• 1 beet
• 1 potato
• 1 onion
• 1 tbs. tomato paste
• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tbs. freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• ½ bell pepper
• 5-7 sweet peas
• 3 bay leaves
• Salt
• Water

Directions:

1. Chop cabbage and potato; fill a bowl with cold water and put cabbage and potato in it.
2. Fill 2/3 saucepan with cold water, add sweet peas and bay leaves.
3. Chop onion and bell pepper; grate beet and carrot.
4. Heat a casserole or a deep frying pan with olive oil. Fry onion lightly.
5. Add to onion beet, carrot, bell pepper. Mix well.
6. Add some water to casserole. Mix well.
7. Add tomato paste, lemon juice. Salt to your taste.
8. Mix vegetables well and put a cover on. Wait till it starts boiling, then stew.
9. Meanwhile, boil the water in the saucepan.
10. Drain cabbage and potato. Add it to boiling water in the saucepan. Salt to your taste.
11. Boil cabbage and potato till it gets softer but not complete ready.
12. Add the content of the casserole to the saucepan, mix well and boil for some 10-15 min.
13. Borsch is ready!

Serve it hot with ‘smetana’ (sour cream), chopped garlic and cumin bread.

Enjoy!