Ukrainian Borshch Soup: Peace Corp Recipes
Recipe by Shelia Slemp
Ingredients:
Stock:
- 2 ½ pounds of pork short ribs; pork bones with marrow
- 3 quarts of water
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon of white vinegar (helps pull marrow from bones)
- 1 medium carrot, sliced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- 2 cups of cabbage, grated
- 1-2 medium-sized beets (if firm, boil them separately for 15-20 minutes and then grate them; save some of the water to add to your stock if you later need more water, or just bake them 45 minutes to an hour to retain vitamins).
- 4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 15-ounce can of beans such as Great Northern (optional)
- 2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 4-5 garlic cloves
- Salt and pepper
- 4-5 tablespoons of fresh parsley
- 4-5 tablespoons of fresh dill
- Sour cream
- Split the bones to help get to the marrow (that’s what makes the soup tasty).
- In a large soup pot, add water and meat/bones and bring to a boil over high heat, periodically skimming off the foam as it rises to the top.
- Add the remaining stock ingredients and reduce heat to low.
- Simmer, partially covered, until the meat is tender, about 30-35 minutes.
- When the stock is ready, remove all but the bones (e.g. meat, carrot, bay leaves) and set them aside.
- In a saucepan, sauté onions in oil until they are translucent.
- Add carrots, sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the beets and cabbage, sauté another 3 minutes.
- Add potatoes to the stockpot and bring the water back to a slow boil.
- Then add the sautéed ingredients and tomato paste to the stockpot.
- Simmer for another hour.
- Add parsley and dill to the pot, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and scrape all of the meat off the bones and add them to the stockpot.
- Serve with a dollop of sour cream.
Evangeline Mee is a program intern for the Peace Corp program of the 2011 Folklife Festival.