Borscht Soup Recipe
It is not unique to Turkey and Greece to argue about the ownership of foods. Such things are inevitable when the people of the same geography separated on paper. As in many other parts of the world, there are many dishes in the same controversial foods in Slavic countries. One of them is borscht soup. Although the conflict is between Russia and Ukraine in particular, the majority is agreed on that the motherland of the soup is Ukraine. But perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that it is an Eastern European dish rather than attributing it to Ukraine or Russia. Of course, this alone does not have sufficient coverage. Because borscht soup is also made in some Chinese cities. In the early 1900s, refugees fleeing the Russian revolution took the soup with themselves to China. Perhaps the best thing to do is to focus on the taste, not the place where the food was born, as we should do for each meal.
Types of Borscht Soup
But even in this case, it is not possible to act independently from geography. Because, like many dishes cooked in a wide geography, borscht soup is made differently in different places. There are so many different kinds of soup that almost every soup made in this region is called borscht soup. So don't go into debate with people about what is used in borscht soup or not. Such a debate has no winner. It is possible to make borscht with or without meat chunks, with or without broth, with or without sausage and bacon, with or without eggs, with or without beans, with or without tomato paste or ketchup and with or without celery. In Poland, even they make it with some kind of dumplings.
Taking power from it, I created my own borscht soup that best suited my taste buds. Obviously I stayed a bit attached to the ingredients used in general. Because I've never tasted enough borscht soup to go on a big adventure.
The methods used to make borscht soup vary as well as ingredients of the soup. It is possible to fry all the vegetables in Turkish style first and then with tomato paste (if tomato paste is to be used) and then add broth and water or as I did, by boiling some vegetables at first and then adding the caramelized vegetable mixture called zazharka. Although I didn't think this would make much difference in flavor, I prepared the soup with zazharka to preserve the authenticity of the recipe.
How to serve Borscht Soup?
One of the rare things that the borscht soup is generally agreed is that it is served with sour cream. I replaced it with whipped yogurt. As sour cream is not a thing I use regularly, I didn't buy sour cream just to put a spoon of sour cream on a bowl of soup. I don't regret it. It's still delicious with yogurt.
Enjoy the recipe...
Ingredients
- 3 beets,
- 3 potatoes,
- 1 celery stalk,
- 1 soup bowl of finely chopped white cabbage,
- 1 onion,
- 2 carrots,
- 1 clove of garlic,
- 5-6 tablespoons of olive oil,
- 2 cups of broth,
- 4 cups of water,
- 1/4 cup vinegar,
- 2 bay leaves,
- Salt,
- Black pepper,
- Cumin.
Preparation
- Peel the beets and grate with the thick side of the grater,
- Peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes,
- Chop the celery stalk,
- Take water, broth, beet, celery stalk and potatoes into a saucepan, bring into boil and cook until medium soft on medium heat,
- Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, heat the olive oil, add the chopped onion and grated carrots and stir fry until caramelized,
- Add the carrot and onion mixture, chopped cabbage and bay leaves to the soup and mix,
- Cook on low heat until all ingredients are completely soft,
- Add vinegar, salt, pepper and cumin to your taste, mix and remove from heat.
Enjoy...