Готовим Борщ (в картинках) англ.

My Borshch is a lighter variation of famous Ukrainian beet soup

 You will need:

Beets    - 2 midium

Carrots - 4

Onion    - 1 big

Bell pepper - 1-2

Garlic -1-2 gloves

Tomato paste - 1 small

Cabbage - 1/2 of midium size or 2 prepackaged

Potatos - 4-6

Fresh Herbs - Parsley, Dill and root of parsley - it's optional

Spices - Black papper, Chili powder, Bay leaves and whatever you like

Salt - to your taste

Sour Cream - 1/2 T.s. per serving

Meat on a Bone - if you don't eat meat - skip the meat all together-otherwise beef or even  chicken is OK 

Olive Oil - 1 t.s.

1.    Put water to boil in a big pot - 6 quaters into 8 quaters pot.

2.    Put meat into second pot slightly cover with water; add onion, carrot, salt, spices. Cook until meat is ready.

3.    Peal beets, cut into very fine long pieces; slightly pan – saute pieces in several tablespoons of olive oil. Transfer to the pot with boiling water. (Very important: ! always put beets into boiling water, !! do not turn down heat right away – or beets will get the nasty dark color)

4.    Peel carrots, root of parsley, onion; slice (I am still cutting carrot and root into long pieces) and slightly pan-fry them as well.

5.    Peel potatoes.  Slice all but one into cubes. Save in a small pot w water for later.

6.    Make all other ingredients ready: slice red paper, cut fresh herbs (usually parsley and a lit bit of dill), fine chop 2 gloves of garlic, open small can of tomato paste, cut cabbage (you can use prepackage cal slow – I prefer to get a real thing!)

7.    Your pieces of beets will change its color for now – it is a sign that beets are ready. Add salt to the pot.

8.    Add potato to a pot (it is always slightly boiling). Let it cook.

9.    Add pre-fried carrots, parsley root, and onion. Taste for the salt.

10.  Add tomato paste. Let it cook very briefly. At that point I will add some hot paper or chilly powder.

11.  Fish out whole pies of potato (remember we did not cut one?) Take it to a small bowl, use a fork to smash it into puree and put it back into pot.

12.  Transfer cooked meat to a big pot. My family likes when pieces of meat are attached to the bone.  Or you can add meat to the individual bowls later, when serving.

13.  Place cabbage into pot. It supposed to be barely covered by pot liquid. Move fast! You do not want to overcook cabbage – it has to be a little bit crunchy. Put in bell paper, herbs, garlic. Cover with lid. Turn the heat off after counting to 20.

DONE!

Do not forget to add a spoon or half-spoon of sour-cream to the individuals bowl.

Before I became non-meat eatter - I  would always add Pork Fat (salo!) cruched together with garlic as a final accord to this famous Ukrainian dish.