Borscht! Exploring Ukrainian Food

 Welcome back to my blog! 

Today we will be exploring the country of Ukraine through one of it’s most popular dishes, Borscht, a sweet and sour soup colored red by beets and tomato. 

The flavor of this soup was unlike anything I have been exposed to as a Mexican-American from Texas. 

I really enjoyed the flavor profile and will absolutely be making this again!

If you are a beginner to cooking, this recipe may be a bit hard to follow but I promise it is very much worth it!

 Ingredients 

• 1 lb Pork ribs
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 beet root
• 2-4 large potatoes
• 1/4 of a cabbage
• 1 1/2 tbsp on tomato paste
• Parsley and garlic
• Salt and pepper
• 1 Bay leaf
•  6 Cups of water

Steps:

1. In a large pan bring olive oil to medium heat and braise 1 lb of Pork ribs until cooked on each side
2. Remove the pork ribs from the pan and place them into a large pot with 6 cups of boiling water
3. In the pan the ribs were cooked in, sauté a chopped carrot and onion until caramelized and remove from heat
4. Remove any white froth from the boiling water pot and discard add parsley to the broth
5. Shred 1 entire beet and place it on medium heat, add 1.5 tbsp of tomato paste and cook down until it is a paste and remove from heat
6. After an hour and a half, remove the pork from the broth and shred
7. Add the carrot and onion mixture to the broth
8. Chop 1/4 head of cabbage and 3 potatoes into cubes and add to broth
9. Add the shredded pork to the broth
10. Add the garlic and beet paste to broth
11. Boil for 5 minutes and serve, top with sour cream to taste

(Note: you may need to add more water to the broth as it cooks down to conserve soup) 

* Photo of the finished soup in pot, topped with chopped parsley and garlic.

If you try recreate this recipe let me know how it was in the comments!

And please feel free to leave any more recipe recommendations down below! 

Enjoy!