Ukrainian Pisnyj (Vegetarian) Borscht

Borscht is an important part of Ukrainian cultural and everyday life. We cook it very often at home and we always treat it to our foreign guests. There are many ways to cook this dish. Many of the recipes are based on broth cooked on meat. Others are vegetarian. We call this kind of Borscht "Pisnyj". It was used in some of our customs, when consumption of meat was traditionally limited. According to one of our renowned doctors and public activists, it belongs to the super food and she advises to eat it often.

Another popular chef from Ukraine decided to study how deep is borscht related to our history and tradition. He ended up with the official request to the UNESCO to register borscht as a Ukrainian National Heritage (news here and here).

I hope you will like this recipe and it will encourage you to try more variations of this dish from Ukraine and our neighbor countries. There is even a cold borscht which is great during hot summer days.

Broth

• Potato 600g
• Small beetroot 150g
• Garlic
• Bay leaf
• Clove
• Black pepper
• White beans 400g
• Small cabbage 600g

Fry

• Butter 25g
• Big onion 150g
• Bell pepper 200g
• Carrots 250g
• Small beetroot 150g
• Big tomato 300g
• Tomato paste 2 table spoons

To Serve

• Parsley
• Dill
• Cream

Wash and peal carrots, potatoes and beetroots. Peal and wash big onion.

Prepare vegetables for the broth. Cut one beetroot in small cubes. Cut potato into bite-sized pieces. Prepare half of the garlic.

Prepare vegetables for the fry. Cut the onion, bell pepper and a tomato into middle sized cubes. Julienne another beetroot and carrots.

Prepare the cabbage. Cut it into quarters, remove the stock and cut into thin stripes.

Take a big pot. Put potatoes and beetroot cubes into 3.5 litters of water, add garlic, bay leaf, one clove and few balls of black pepper and bring to boil. Cook at a medium heat, while you prepare a fry.

Melt butter in the frying pan. Add a cut onion and fry for 3 minutes. Add a bell pepper and cook for another minute. Add a julienne carrots and beetroots to the pan, and fry for another 5 minutes. Finally add a tomato and a tomato paste. Cook during 5 minutes.

Remove garlic, bay leaf and clove from the broth. Put fry and beans into the pot. Mix well and cook for another ten minutes. Finally, add cabbage and cook for no longer then 5 minutes. According to my father - cabbage must be fresh and crispy. Others prefer to cook it longer. There is no correct way to cook borscht, so feel free to change anything you want. Make your borscht personal!

Cut finely parsley and dill. Serve borscht topped with a table spoon of cream with parsley and dill. Some people eat it with cloves of fresh garlic. Traditionally, we eat it with an yeast bread with garlic.

This dish is full of vegetables and vitamins. It is very nutritious and it will give you strengths to be productive for the whole day.