The inspiration behind this soup was a beautiful Le Creuset cast iron dutch oven given to me recently by my son and daughter in law. What a perfect gift, I must say, for the soup nazi that I am! Well – I wanted to make a soup that was bold and also a complimentary color to my new pea green pot. So I’m at Rainbow Farms, my new favorite hang out market in Madison, and happened across the most beautiful bunch of red beets. That’s it! Beet soup. But it’s in the 20’s and snowy here in NE Ohio so I wanted something really hearty. Then it came to me – hearty, piping hot winter Borscht!
There are innumerable versions of this soup which is of Eastern European origin. I sieved through many recipes and ended up using Carole Clements recipe from What’s Cooking: Soups. I did tweak it up a bit – sorry Carole. Many recipes use potatoes but I ommited this only because I wanted it on the lighter side. I also debated whether or not to keep it chunky or pureed. I really agonized over this but in the end opted to puree. Maybe next time I will do a chunky / puree combination. To season borscht you absolutely have to have dill – fresh dill – and lots of it. There is something quite amazing about the pairing of beets with dill. Something I never knew, quite honestly, until making this soup.
Borscht is a sour soup. To achieve the sourness I used lemon juice but red wine vinegar works too. I tried a small sample using both and ended up going with the lemon juice which I felt was less harsh. I also noticed something interesting about the taste – sort of sweet and sour. Then it came to me. This was because of the sweetness of the carrots.
Traditionally Borsch is served with a dollop of sour cream. To maintain compliance with the plant based theme of this website, I substituted with Silk plain almond milk dairy-free yogurt.
There are so many reasons to love the star ingredient in this soup – beetroots. Beets are low in calories but super rich in nutrients. They are loaded with fiber, potassium, magnesium and vitamins B and C. They also contain folate which is good for heart health and manganese which is good for brain function and metabolism. According to Healthline, beets have been shown to lower the risk of heart disease and blood pressure (although this effect is temporary) but a good reason to make plenty of Borscht.
Now if you’ll excuse me I am going to curl up on the couch with a nice big bowl of my Winter Vegetarian Borscht and watch the snow fall!
Ingredients:
- 1/4 large green cabbage coarsley chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 carrots thinly sliced
- 3-4 beets peeled and cubed
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 14 oz. can peeled tomatoes in juice
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tsp. ground black pepper
- Non-dairy yogurt
Directions:
- Cover the cabbage with cold water in a pan. Boil for 3 minutes then drain.
- Saute the onion in a small amount of water in a cooking pot.
- Add the broth, tomatoes, carrots, bay leaf and blanched cabbage. Stir. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hr 15 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. Remove the bay leaves.
- Allow the soup to cool slightly then transfer, small batches at a time, to a high speed blender and puree.
- Return to the soup pot, add the dill, black pepper and lemon juice and stir. Add more broth or water to desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Serve piping hot with a dollop of non-dairy yogurt.
