Every family in Russia (and also probably in Ukraine and Belorussia) has it’s own recipe of Borsh – traditional soup. Well, usually it is made with meat, bones and that kind of cr*p, but there is also a so-called “Lent” version of it. As I talked in this post.

It's really tasty, I promise, you must try! =) And very easy to make.

The good thing about this recipe is that it was developed and perfected by my grandma throughout 40 years! She’s into Lent also =) So it’s traditional and vegan, not something that somebody just made up while being vegan :))

Ingredients for 4-liter saucepan (in picture) :

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• 2-3 cups of boiled or canned white kidney beans (preserve the liquid from water or can!)

• 2-3 medium beetroots (or 1 large)

• 2-3 medium carrots

• 5-6 medium potatos

• 1-2 cups of cabbage, sliced

• 1 big onion

• 2 tbsp sour tomato paste dissolved in a cup of water, OR 5-6 fresh tomatoes made into paste, peeled and chopped+2tbsp fresh lemon juice

• Fresh dill of parsley

• Salt to taste (no other spices needed! That’s Russian cuisine))

• 6 tbsp or more of oil (of course you can use less or without, but traditional Russian soups have to have some oil in them)

How to prepare :

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• Soak and cook white kidney beans in advance (if canned, skip this step)

• Put cooked kidney beans with the liquid into the saucepan, add 4 liters of water. Start boiling.

• Grate raw beetroot. Divide by half. Half of it put into the saucepan right away.

• Peel the potatoes, cut into 4 big pieces, put into the saucepan right away.

• Chop the onion. In a frying pan pour the oil, add onions. Fry until golden.

• Meanwhile grate the carrots, half of that add to the onions.

• Add the rest half of beetroot to the frying mixture. Fry for several minutes.

• Add tomato paste. Again several minutes.

• Take out the potatoes from the soup. Mash them with the potato masher. Put back into the soup (This step is important because it gives an amazing texture to the soup. If it’s annoying to take out the potatoes from the soup, you can boil them separately and then mash and add to the soup, together with the water they were boiling in).

• Add the fried mixture into the soup.

• Add the rest of raw grated carrot.

• Add the cabbage.

• Salt, taste if enough.

• Cook till the cabbage is soft (but not too soft)

• Turn off, add chopped dill and parsley and lemon juice if used fresh tomatoes).

• Leave for 10 minutes to rest. I read an advice from professional cooks, they say – always leave a soup to rest for at least 10 minutes to release its full flavor.

Eat with bread, you can also add some vegan mayo. This amount of Borsh will feed our family of 2 for 2 days without other food. :)