The most famous and popular dish of Ukrainian national cuisine for several centuries is borsch. Historians find the first mention of it in written monuments of the times of Kievan Rus. Most likely, borsch owes its name to the edible grass called hogweed. For Ukrainians, this is not just a type of food, it is also a traditional ritual dish.
Since the dish is popular all over Ukraine, in Russia, the Baltic states and Belarus, there are countless recommendations on how to cook borscht; it is customary to cook it in each region according to original recipes. There are no strict canons for the preparation of this technologically sophisticated dish, but according to different recipes approximately the same products are invested in borsch.
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The main ingredient of any recipe is beets, its presence gives a specific taste, aroma and color. In addition, beans, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, greens, onions, tomatoes or tomato juice (pasta), spices are put in borsch. Depending on the season of preparation, green peas, asparagus beans, zucchini and even apples can be added to the composition of the product.
Before
cooking borsch, cook the broth. It can be made from pork bones and meat, from chicken, during fasting it is customary to cook borsch on mushroom broth. In Western Ukraine, home-made sliced sausages are added to the borsch during cooking. Beet kvass or beet sourdough is added to the finished broth, but this is not for everybody. Modern recommendations on how to cook borsch, this point is not emphasized as a must. It should be noted that the dish owes its unusual taste to almost two dozen products that are included in its composition.
Before preparing Ukrainian borsch according to a traditional recipe, you should prepare for 1 liter of broth:
- 150-170 gr. beets;
- 100 gr. fresh cabbage;
- 200-210 gr. potatoes;
- 20 gr. beans;
- 50 gr parsley and carrot roots ;
- 40 gr onions;
- 35 gr tomato puree;
- 25 gr melted pork fat;
- 10 gr. Sahara;
- 10 gr. vinegar
- 5 gr. wheat flour;
- 30 gr lettuce pepper;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- 10-15 gr. bacon.
The beans should first be washed and poured with boiling water, this will speed up the process of its preparation. It is usually boiled with meat in the preparation of the broth. Beets need to be carefully cut into strips and stew in a frying pan with fat, vinegar, sugar and tomato puree. Carrots are also finely chopped, poured into a heated frying pan with a small amount of fat, add onion diced and chopped parsley root and fry until half cooked.
Peeled potatoes are cut into small cubes, put in a boiling broth. After 15 minutes the boiling field is added to the
stewed beets, sauteed vegetables. After another 5 minutes, add a slightly toasted flour (after diluting it with hot broth), chopped pepper and cabbage. Dish salt and pepper, add bay leaves and chopped leaves of fresh dill and parsley.
The story about how to cook borscht would not be complete without a description of the fact that at the last stage of cooking, the dish should be seasoned with fresh pork fat mixed with garlic in a mortar. The lard is crushed to a homogeneous mass and added to the pan for a couple of minutes before removing it from the heat.
After learning about how to cook borsch, you should also be aware that they eat Ukrainian borsch with sour cream and donuts - freshly baked salted buns seasoned with garlic.