Russian Red Cabbage Soup Borscht

Overview

The most famous Russian dish in China is red cabbage soup. Old Shanghai called old Russia Borscht, so this red cabbage soup was named Borscht. I have never tasted Shanghai borscht, but I have eaten a lot of Russian red cabbage soup. In Russia and other countries, this soup is a very common home-cooked dish. Each family has its own way of making it, using different stock, or even no broth, and adding different ingredients. What I wrote is our own way of making it, such as adding bacon/cured meat and adding rice and beans (I don’t have any in stock at home, so I didn’t add it this time). You can make improvements according to your own preferences. The biggest feature of home-cooked food is that there are no absolute standards. You can modify it according to your own taste and enjoy eating it. I highly recommend this dish to lazy cooks and people who don’t usually have time to cook. Once it’s made, it can be kept in the refrigerator for several days, and the potatoes become more delicious as time goes by. On the contrary, the freshly made ones taste very bland and not delicious.

Tags

• home cooking
• soup
• northeast snacks
• bacon
• bay leaf
• beetroot
• cabbage
• chicken breast
• dried parsley
• dried rice basket
• onions
• potatoes
• carrot
• chopped tomatoes
• garlic
• tomatoes

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 All ingredients are ready and washed.

   

2. 2 Grate the carrots into shreds and cut the bacon/bacon into small cubes.

   

3. 3 Cut the cabbage in half and then into strips, not too thin. One cabbage is just right, but this time there was only so much left at home, so the end result was much thinner than usual. Choose cabbages that grow solidly, not loose ones; choose cabbages that are white in color and have thick flesh, and don’t choose cabbages that are green in color and have thin leaves.

   

4. 4 Chop the onion into small cubes, pat the garlic and cut it into minced garlic.

   

5. 5 Cut the tomatoes into small pieces, no need to chop them very finely.

   

6. 6 Peel the potatoes and cut them into large pieces. The small pieces will fall apart easily when cooked.

   

7. 7 Let’s take a group photo.

   

8. 8 I used chicken stock for the stock this time. I stewed the chicken breasts with water in a pressure cooker. Start spraying, turn down the heat and keep spraying for an hour. Chicken legs are more delicious when stewed. I have made pork bone soup, lamb leg soup, and beef soup. They all have different tastes and are all good. You can choose the stock according to your preference. Fish soup cannot be used. Pour the stock into the pot for stew. If it is prepared in advance, you need to boil the stock. If you want to eat meat, leave it in the soup; if you don't want to eat it, take it out.

   

9. 9 Turn on the stove and put the wok on high heat. When the pan is hot, change the heat to medium, add vegetable oil, then add the chopped onions and stir-fry.

   

10. 10 Fry the minced onions until they turn slightly yellow, add half of the garlic, and set aside the other half. Add the garlic to the pot and stir-fry immediately.

    

11. 11 Fry the garlic until fragrant, add bacon/bacon cubes, and stir-fry.

    

12. 12 Stir-fry the bacon/bacon cubes for a few times and you will see that the fat part is slightly transparent. Add the shredded carrots and stir-fry.

    

13. 13 Fry the shredded carrots until they change color, then stir-fry for about a minute, add the tomato cubes, and stir-fry.

    

14. 14 After the tomato pieces are put into the pot, turn to high heat and fry the tomatoes until they become pureed.

    

15. 15 Add chopped tomatoes and stir fry.

    

16. 16 Stir-fry the chopped tomatoes and add shredded red cabbage. I bought fresh beetroot, grated it into shreds, and froze it for storage. After it melted, there was a lot of vegetable juice. I didn’t waste any of it, just put it all in. If you are using fresh beetroot, just grate it into shreds and fry it.

    

17. 17 There will be a lot of soup in the beetroot after it is put into the pot. Stir it continuously over high heat until the soup is basically dried up and it looks sticky but without water. If you are slow, use medium heat and stir-fry in time.

    

18. 18 Add the fried vegetables to the hot stock and simmer over high heat.

    

19. 19 After boiling the pot, add the cabbage. Even if the cabbage is a little higher than the edge of the pot, it's okay. Press it down with a spoon, cover it and continue stewing.

    

20. 20 After the pot is boiled, add the potatoes. The cabbage will become soft after cooking and the place will be ready. Cover and simmer.

    

21. 21 If you feel there is too much, use a spoon to scoop out some of it and put it into other pots to stew at the same time.

    

22. 22 While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the bay leaves, remaining garlic, dried dill, and dried parsley.

    

23. 23 Crush the dried parsley and dried dill into fine pieces with your hands and throw away the stems.

    

24. 24 After the potatoes are put into the pot, cook until the pot is boiling, then continue to cook on high heat for seven or eight minutes. Turn off the heat, quickly sprinkle in the ingredients you just prepared, and cover the lid.

    

25. 25 Treat the extra pot the same way.

    

26. 26 Don't be in a hurry when eating, remember to add two tablespoons of homemade yogurt (pure yogurt, only milky and sour, sugar-free must be sugar-free), if possible, add sour cream, the best taste. If you have Russian pickles, chop them up and add them.

    

27. 27 Beetroot soup with homemade toasted bread, dry sausage, garlic cloves, a delicious dinner. If you have Ukrainian marinated fatty meat, cut it into small strips and mix it with white vinegar and garlic. It goes better with red cabbage soup than dry sausage. Unfortunately, my family has eaten all of them, and there are less cabbages than usual this time.