Borsch is a traditional Ukrainian beetroot soup with bright red color and a tempting garlic flavor. It is served all around Ukraine, and you can definitely try it in every Ukrainian restaurant in the world. You want to cook your own borsch? We are here to help you.

Borsch recipes vary from region to region. In fact, every family has its own recipe, and more than that, every cook in a family has their own secrets. There are of course a number of essential ingredients that actually make borsch. Such as: beet, potato, onions, tomatoes, dill, garlic and sour-cream.

The list of ingredients:

For the broth:
6-8 liters of water
1 kg meat on a bone
1/3 glass of dried kidney beans (if you do not use meat, use more beans)
1 big onion
1 parsley root
5-10 grains of all spice
salt
5-10 bay leaves

For the soup:
2 medium beetroots
4-6 potatoes
1/3 head cabbage
1 onion
1 carrot
4 tomatoes or 4-5 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice or 1.5 teaspoon of vinegar

For the spicing:
4 garlic cloves
1 slice of Salo (salty pork lard)
Dill
Black pepper to the taste

For the serving:
Sour-cream (Smetana)
Garlic Bread

There are five steps to cook the proper, home-made, Borsch.

1. Broth
Traditionally borsch was a vegetarian dish, as it was cooked in villages, where people could not afford meat every day. However, contemporary version of this soup is normally based on a thick meat broth. Whether you choose a vegetarian or a meat version, your soup should still have a tasty basis.
You can use meat, fish or poultry broth as a base. Try a big beef bone with meat and marrow, for example a shank or brisket or ribs.

Wash it thoroughly, put in cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to make sure the water almost stopped boiling. Use a perforated spoon to get rid of the foam and excessive fat on the surface. When the surface is clean, add one whole onion, one parsley root (both washed and peeled), salt, bay leaves and 5-10 grains of all spice. Cook for about 3 hours, until the meat starts falling from the bones. Filter the broth, get rid of the roots and all the spices, take the meat off the bones, cut it and return to the broth. Now the base is ready.

For a vegetarian broth use kidney beans as a basis, as they give a good taste and contain a lot of protein. Soak them in cold water overnight to make them softer, tastier and reduce the cooking time. Pour the water out and cook in fresh water for at least an hour, until they get soft. If you never cooked kidney beans before, be advised that they get significantly larger during cooking (about 3 times). Add spices and vegetables as above.

2. Beetroot
Beetroot is essential. If you cook the same soup without beet, it will not be borsch anymore, it will be another dish called Shee. Beet is what gives the soup its amazing color and exquisite taste. So, the main problem we have here is how to protect the red color during cooking?

In fact, this is a bone of contention for all true borsch lovers. Some say that you need to boil the beets together with the meat, to make it soft and mix the tastes. However, if you do that, the vegetable will lose its color and become gray.

So, there are two main ways to cook beet for the soup. First: you cook it separately, bake it in the oven or boil in a separate pan. When it is ready, you grate it and mix with other vegetables.

The second way is to grate the fresh beet (of course, washed and peeled), and cook it in a separate frying pan with carrots and onions. In this case you need to add some acid to keep the color, for example some lemon juice or vinegar.

3. Getting the soup together
So, the broth is ready, and so is the beet (if you baked it separately). Now it is time to mix everything into the ready soup.

Cut the cabbage in thin slices and put it the boiling broth. Peel potatoes, chop them in cubes and add ten minutes later than the cabbage. (About the potatoes: note that in some recipes they boil potatoes separately, and when ready mash them and add to the ready soup. It gives the thicker texture).

Chop an onion very fine, grate the carrots (and the beet, if you decided to cook it with the other veg). Heat a some oil in a big frying pan and add the vegetables to it. Before it starts to burn add some broth, take the top side of the broth which contains all the grease. If you are cooking the beet this way, do not forget to use a teaspoon or two of a lemon juice, to protect the color. Cook for 10 minutes. Take fresh ripe tomatoes and skin them (put them in boiling water for 5 seconds, and then take them out; the skin will come away easily). Mash the tomatoes (or chop them, if they are not ripe enough), then add to the pan with other vegetables. If you have no fresh tomatoes, use tomato juice or tomato paste. Cook for another ten minutes.

4. Getting the right taste.
Empty the pan with the vegetables into the broth and mix. Try it. It is always better if you have tried borsch before, so that you know how it should taste. A real borsch should be a little bit sour and sweet, normally this taste is achieved by the mixture of proper tomatoes and sweet beet. If it is difficult to get them fresh and ripe in a big city, the taste might be a bit weak. The secret is to add some lemon juice and sugar.

Add pepper according to taste. Normally the soup is not too hot, so some black pepper will be enough, but if you like it hot, you may want to use chili pepper. In Ukrainian villages they also add a special garlic-based flavoring, made of salo (salty pork lard). If you have salo, cut some in cubes and crush it with sea salt crystals and garlic. If you do not have salo or do not like it, just crush some garlic. Chop the dill and add to the soup with the garlic, then switch the heat off.

5. How to serve it.
Borsch is served with Smetana (home-made sour-cream) and Pampushki (small bread-rolls saturated with butter, salt and garlic). You can of course use some cream instead of Smetana and some white garlic bread instead of traditional Pampushki.

They say that Borsch is tastiest the day after cooking. So if you are patient enough, wait until the next day to let all the ingredients get the proper taste. Reheat your servings in a separate pan, but do not boil it again, as the garlic will lose its taste. Enjoy!