In Poland red borscht made from beetroots is usually served for Christmas. The best one is made with sourdough. But it need to be made in advance (at least 5 days). So, what if there is no sourdough this year?
Fortunately there is a solution. You can prepare delicious red borscht in a few easy step. You will find ingredients in every grocery.
First thing you need to do is cook good, aromatic vegetable broth. Slowly cooked with dried plums, an apple and dried mushrooms.
Next you need to peel and slice beets. In most recipes you will be asked to add cooked or roasted ones. I use the raw one, thinly sliced.
And at the end, very important ingredient, to give this red borscht proper acidity- juice from sauerkraut. To finish I also add few tbsp red vinegar.
Do not forget about dried majoram and red borscht is ready!
P.S. This time there is no photos, just few drawings I made, because of plenty free time.
Red borscht
Ingredients:
for about 3-3,5 liter of borscht
Broth:
4,5 liter water
6 carrots
3 parsley root
4 celery ribs
2 onion
2 garlic cloves
¼ celery root
piece of cabbage
1 leek
6 dried plums
few dried mushrooms
1 large apple
parsley leaves, lovage leaves, green parts of leek
8 whole allspice berries
6 bay leaves
4 cloves
2 whole juniper berries
6 large beets
juice form ½ lemon
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
4 died plums
4 dried mushrooms
1 apple
1 clove garlic
small piece of ginger
300 ml sauerkraut juice
3-5 tbsp red vinegar
salt
pepper
soy sauce
dried majoram
1. Peel the broth veggies. Cut apples in half. Burn onion over the flames or in the pan to black. Put all broth ingredients in a pot. Cook on slow heat for at least 1,5 h (longer the better). Strain veggies from the broth, squeezing then to get out more aroma (don’t squeeze apples) and discard.
2. Peel and thinly slice the beets. Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and sugar. Set aside for few minutes.
3. Add sliced beets, 4 dried plums, 4 dried mushrooms, 1 apple and 1 clove garlic to the strained broth. Cook at least for 1 hour. Do not bring to a boil (this may change the colour of borscht). At the end of cooking add sauerkraut juice. Strain and discard the beets and other ingredients (don’t squeeze apples). Season with salt, soy sauce, pepper, majoram and vinegar.
Serve hot, with pierogi.
