This is Mum’s borscht, which I grew up eating – she got the recipe from a Ukrainian neighbour who lived on our street.
I had a strong childhood aversion to beets. I didn’t like the sweetness of them, and remember hating how beet juice would seep into everything else on your plate.
Maybe that’s why I never minded borscht. For one thing, it was sour. Plus the seeping was a done deed, and everything stained a consistent shade of purply red.
Mum would sometimes add chunks of summer sausage to her borscht – I don’t, as I find it detracts from the taste.
Borscht
(serves 6 generously)
- a knob of butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and grated
- 3 beets, peeled and grated
- 2 veggie stock cubes
- 1/2 a small cabbage, shredded
- 2 Tb red wine vinegar
- salt and pepper
- sour cream and chopped dill, to serve
- In a large soup pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter.
- Add the onion, carrots and beets and cook for about five minutes, until softened.
- Add enough water to cover the vegetables by about two inches. Cover and simmer for fifteen minutes
- Add the cabbage and vinegar, and simmer for fifteen minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve garnished with sour cream and chopped dill.
Ten More Bites 
Oh, Andrea, your last few blog posts that I missed are like music to my ears.. So nostalgic and inspirational. I must cook authentic home food more often. Everything what you cook looks just spot on!! 🙂
I really appreciate you saying that, Yana. There is a fair amount of Ukrainian influence on what we consider “Canadian cooking”. I’ve grown up eating some of these dishes, but aside from borscht, haven’t cooked them myself. It’s been fun to delve into the world of Eastern European cooking.
It always makes me happy when people not only trying some of EE food, but even cooking it!
I hadn’t noticed how many EE teams had qualified when I decided to do this. Was a little daunted as not food I’ve cooked much before, but have really enjoyed it!