Borscht Soup
Dear friends,
When I was younger and didn’t really care much about this food or that food, I didn’t realize what a spectacular cook my Mom was. She can cook Kalmyk, Yugoslavian, German, Russian and American dishes with her eyes closed. She was one of these people whatever she gets her hand on, she does a really good job. In cooking she was a whiz! In many things she was naturally gifted and a kind lady too when she was well.
Now I look back and realize the amount of really good food and pastries she can do. One of the foods that has remained a favorite with me is Borscht soup. My mom use to make it with beef in which you cook the beef with beets and carrots first before adding the other ingredients. Now I use all the same ingredients but without meat. It tastes just as good and I don’t feel anything is missing without the meat.
This hearty root-based soup originated in the Ukrainian region of Russia. It was made by peasants who were poor and threw everything they had into the pot and boiled it. With water added it can feed a lot of mouths for big families during hard times. It spread to many Eastern European cultures who equally enjoy it. It originated from the peasants but became mainstream in Russia.
The main ingredients are abundance of red fresh beets (the more the better) which gives the soup a wonderful autumn color, potatoes, beans, cabbage, lots of fresh garlic, carrots, onions, tomato and healthy dose of coriander. You can add corn and celery too if you like. Any amount you want. Salt is added as per your taste. You add the cabbage last because root vegetables like potato and beets take longer to cook. It is a healthy nutritious soup when done. You know it’s done when all the vegetables are fully cooked. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge and even more delicious the next few days when heated up. My mom use to have us put some pure sour cream into the soup when served and also eat with fresh rye or black bread on the side. Salad as appetizer is nice too. In my household, when borscht was served, it was a main meal. Take note, he sour cream if you use is only added into your bowl when served. You do not cook the sour cream.
These days I remember exactly how to cook it and still do. My students and friends whom I’ve taught the recipe have become experts too. I still enjoy the soup and I know you will too. I have it from time to time as it’s very healthy and filling.
Having borscht soup reminds me of my mother very much whom I love dearly.
What a coincidence, today’s meal is borscht soup on the stove I was just informed!
Tsem Rinpoche
Amount enough for 5 persons
| Ingredients | Unit | Original Qty |
| Beet root, cut into big cubes | piece | 1 |
| Carrots, cut into big cubes | pieces | 2 |
| Potatoes, cut into big cubes | pieces | 2 |
| Cabbage, cut into cubes | bunch | 0.5 |
| Onion, cut into quarter | pieces | 2 |
| Tomato paste | tbsp | 4 |
| Water | litre | 1 |
| White peppercorn | pieces | 10 |
| Sugar | tbsp | 1 |
| Sour cream | cup | 1 |
| Coriander leaves | cup | 0.5 |
| Bay leaves | pieces | 2 |
| Salt taste | tbsp | 0.5 |
| Garlic | pieces | 5 |
You can never overdo it on the vegetables but careful with the salt and sugar, adding in according to your taste. Do add plenty of fresh garlic, and fresh corn and celery would be nice too. Herbs like dried basil, parsley, bay leaves, thyme, chives, rosemary, dill weed, cilantro are nice too. If you don’t have so many herbs, just adding bay leaves, coriander, cilantro will be good enough. Sprinkling cilantro or coriander on top just before serving is best.
Method
- Peel the beetroot but keep the skin for later for boiling. Bring a pan to boil water and add in the beetroot skin. Then put 2 tablespoon sugar and boil for 10 minutes.
- Heat the oil in a skilllet over a medium heat. Add the onion and peppercorn, bay leaves. Add the beetroot and carrot, add tomato paste and cook until it last in color. Put 1 litre of water and the boiled water beetroot skin to boil about 15 minutes. Add cabbage then continues to boil for 10 minutes.
- Serve with sour cream and Coriander leaves.
From Wikipedia:
- In Russian cuisine, it usually includes beets, meat, cabbage, and optionally, potatoes.
- In Ukrainian cuisine, it can be a vegetable soup or based on either chicken or other meat bouillon. Traditionally borshch is served with pampushki and smetana. Main ingredients include specially prepared red beets, potatoes, carrots, beans (e.g. broad beans, green runner beans, butter beans or other varieties), celery, fresh or dried mushrooms (optional), herbs (e.g. fresh dill and/ or parsley), chopped cabbage, chopped fresh tomatoes or tomato sauce.
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Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this Borscht Soup recipe. Sounds really interesting ,delicious and nutritious😘😘😘. Really can’t wait to try it out!😍👍🙏
I guess the first time I had ever tried Borsht soup was at this Hong Kong chain, Kim Gary in town. The set meals usually comes with a bowl of Borsht soup. But it was quite watery and tasted more like Tomato but with a slight difference. I loved it.
I dunno why but I am craving for Borsht soup right now. I can’t really cook but I can make a pretty decent bowl of pumpkin soup. Perhaps I should try to expand my repertoire to include Borsht soup as well. This recipe does not look that complicated that I could mess up. Anyway, I have always wanted to learn how to cook and I guess if I don’t start with simple dishes, it would never happen.
Reading about this soup, makes one really want to go out there and start cooking. Thnak you for this very healthy soup.
My step sister married a Russian immigrant and she tried making Borscht soup for us one time, but it was really foul. I don’t recall it having anything in it but beets, meat and sour cream. Your recipe looks wonderful. As soon as I can pick up the ingredients I’m going to try it.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.. The Borscht Soup is nutrient and looks tasty. My mother is a talented cook as well. She is so creative and can cook so many types of meals. She even cook on Saturday and Sunday. We rest on weekends but she continues preparing the meals for us even on Saturday and Sunday. I will learn up this Borscht Soup and cook for her.
Thank you
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing with us this information and recipe for this amazing soup. I have to say, the soup sounds delicious! I would love to try it out! And the best part, its vegetarian! 😀
I also would like to say that Rinpoche’s mother was truly talented! I know how hard it is to cool as i am horrible at it. So knowing someone who really knows how to cook and in so many different styles, makes me admire them 🙂 I am sure that if my mother could cook, hahahha, i would eat at home a lot more 🙂
This article also brings me to the topics of mothers. Mothers are great, they do everything for you. And most of the time (well, from my opinion) i feel that we don’t see the full love from our mothers till we are older. And this is when we truly learn to respect our mothers and thank them for what they have done for us in the past 🙂
And i would also like to say, i have learnt a lot just from reading this article. This article isn’t so much about just the soup. I have also learnt the past about where the soup has come from and how Rinpoche came in contact with the soup. And i actually really enjoyed reading this article 🙂 and i hope Rinpoche will post more articles like this.
Thank you Rinpoche’ sharing. This recipe really nutrition and look tasty. it was warm heart this dishes bring in good memories of your mum. This an unconditional love from a mum to child..