Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Borsh recipe and more

Last night I made Borsh for the first time ever! Some of you might wonder what it is...Borsh is one of the most popular dishes in Russia and Ukraine. It's a delicious soup that's made out of vegetables and some meat (usually beef). It's main ingredients are beats and cabbage...I know that probably doesn't sound that appealing, but trust me, all the ingredients and spices mixed together create a wonderful and unique flavor that even vegetable haters can't resist. Not all recipes of Borsh have a successful outcome so it's important to get a hold of a good recipe. So far I perfected two Russian dishes, but I want to keep on learning how to prepare more Russian dishes that I loved while growing up.
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for me. I have couple classes and then work till 10 PM. Last semester was really expensive so this semester I decided to work a lot more and take a lot less credits. I refuse to take out a loan, so I usually try do whatever it takes in order to be able to afford school without loans, even if it will take me a little longer to graduate.
I also feel way out of shape...so one of my New Year resolutions is to start excising regularly. The good thing about this, I have a free unlimited pass to the gym (which I rarely take advantage off) so I am thinking about signing up for a free personal trainer this semester. I figure that way I can stay motivated to keep going to the gym. Hopefully that will also increase my energy level and will make me feel better.
Got to go..........Love,

Me

Borsh Recipe (Jeremy Brazell)

cup of dried white beans(soak in water overnight with 1-2 inches of water over them) an alternative is to get a can of white beans

about 7 to 8 cups of water
4 Decent sized potatoes(2 lbs or so)
2 Big beet(about apple size)
1-2 Carrots
1 Big onion
1 sweet ripe tomato(roma is a good one)
Some cabbage(according to feel- about as much as you could grab with both hands when it is chopped)
1 8oz. can of tomato paste
Some bullion cubes according to what meat you are going to use
Beef/Chicken/Pork- choose your meat or you can go vegetarian- tastes great either way
Fresh cut dill
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Cooking oil(sunflower oil preferred, secondary is olive oil as vegetable oil is unpredictable between brands)

Ok so chop up your potatoes and start them boiling. If you are using beans that you soaked overnight- put them in now. Otherwise wait until you add the beets to the boiling pot.

Grate your beet and carrots and onion put them in a frying pan with 1-2 tablespoons of oil and start frying. Add tomatoe paste and cook the whole thing. if it starts bowning too much, add a bit of water just to keep it from burning. You want this to really cook into a glop. then set it aside.

Add your cabbage to the boiling potatoes when potatoes are 50% cooked. Then when your cabbage is about 50 percent cooked, add some bullion to your pot(to taste). Then add your beet/onion/carrot mixture to the soup. This is the good time to taste test and you can add the fresh tomato into the soup(cut it into 4-8 pieces) as this will sweeten the broth.

Bring it to a boil again and add your raw, chopped up meat. Allow the whole mix to boil for 3-5min and then check your vegetables to make sure they are cooked(remember the pot will still be hot when you turn it off so you don't want them to overcook) Add dried spices now(basil, oregano, parsley) and salt/pepper to taste. The theory here is to keep tasting your soup as you go and to mold it to what you WANT it to taste like- not just tasting it at the end.

Turn off the heat, add fresh chopped dill to the top(a good amount) and cover. Let this sit for 25-30min. BEFORE serving. This allows the soup to meld and build flavor. Borsh is always BETTER on the second day so leftovers are obyazatelno.

Serve hot with Sour cream and fresh bread. The traditional way to do this is pour out the bowl and use each person's clean soup spoon to get a spoonful of sour cream and then put the spoon in the soup.

Enjoy!



2 comments:

  1. Love your blog. The music is a wonderful touch. I am excited for the next post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mmmm...Todd and I are going to try making this!

    ReplyDelete