Jewish Cuisine

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Food Category
Soup

Key Ingredient
Beetroot
Potato

Cuisine Category
Jewish

Borscht

Cuisine: Jewish Created by Ramona Koval

This recipe comes from Ramona’s book “Jewish Cooking, Jewish Cooks” and can be served either hot in winter or as a cold, summer soup.

Ingredients

1 kg beetroot, topped and tailed
Juice of 1 lemon
2 litres water or chicken stock (To be Kosher: if using the stock you can’t serve with yoghurt or sour cream)
3 small potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 large bunch of fresh dill roughly chopped,
3-4 cups water
1 tbsp sugar
Pepper
2 tsp salt
Sour cream or yoghurt (about 1 dessertspoonful per person)

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Preparation

Peel the beetroots and place them whole into a large pot. Pour over the juice of half a lemon and add water (or stock) to cover. Place the pot over a medium heat and cook for 40 minutes until the beetroot is tender. The beetroot is cooked when the flesh is tender enough for a knife to cut through to the other side without getting stuck.

Remove the beetroot from the liquid and cut into small pieces.

Put the cut beetroot into a large saucepan with the potato, onion and dill. Add sugar and juice of lemon to taste. Season with freshly ground pepper and salt and add three to four cups of water.

Cover and return to the stove. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20-30 mins.

Blend the mixture.

To serve
Chill until icy cold and serve with a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkling of dill, or serve hot with a steaming hot boiled potato added to each person’s bowl.

Jewish Restaurants

Displaying 4 of 4 Jewish Restaurants.

Restaurant		Suburb
1.	Moroccan Feast	Randwick
2.	Twenty One	Double Bay
3.	Thomas Street Grocery	Hampton
4.	Botticelli of Brighton	Brighton

28 Mar 2012 11:36 AEST

Debbie

Melbourne

to blend or not to blend

This recipe is fantastic - easy and totally delicious. It works blended or not. I just cut the dill up finely if I am not blending it . My kids are more likely to eat it blended -and with lots of yoghurt! I have also added extra ingredients e.g. cabbage and it works well.

26 Mar 2012 10:10 AEST

Aaron Zelman

Elsternwick

I'd like some now please

Just plain yum.

26 Mar 2012 06:43 AEST

David

St.Kilda, Victoria

Don't beat up the borscht!

The beetroot is an ancient vegetable predating the Russian, Ukranian or Polish nations. There are many ways to skin a beet. Many borschts have evolved from the peoples who populated The Borscht Basin of north-eastern Europe. Let's celebrate the diversity of borscht which means we can all have a different borscht for every day of the week!

12 Jan 2011 06:50 AEST

Michael

Hervey Nay

Polish Borscht and ushka

Hi- My nan is polish and we have Borscht every Christmas eve with sides of piroggi ( Mushroom and cabbagbe and cherry fillings ) Best food eva! and crumbed Jon dory (fish- best fish eva!)- This Borscht she makes is my fav thing of all time! definately not a thick soup-veg strained we have ushka( pasta ) with our borscht which goes together so well.( Cant be beaten!) a similar substitute you could use is ravioli..but find ushka.. for full best eva borscht recipe email me mizzy113@hotmail.com

12 Jan 2011 06:50 AEST

Michael

Hervey Nay

Polish Borscht and ushka

29 Oct 2010 04:35 AEST

Olga

Ferny Hills

Russian Borscht

Borscht contains beef on the bone, cabbage(NOT red), lots of tomatoes, beetroot, onion, garlic, red hot chilli pepper, capsicum, dill to taste, NO lemon, NO vinegar, and it's chunky. Yogurt is no-no, sour cream only. There is no such a thing as Jewish borscht.

16 Sep 2010 11:12 AEST

Anastasia

South Yarra

Russians know best

I am Russian- yes i agree, this soup must be chunky, we never grew up on it BLENDED?! The recipe is good for Jewish customs, not to mix meat with dairy, but lacks really flavoursome vegetables such as red peppers, tomato and CABBAGE. With some Pelmeni (Perogi) it is heaven on earth !! But it seems to be the new style Borsch to blend, maybe for presentation reasons - even in an expensive Russian resturant I went to, it was a thin liquid- with no chunks!....I asked "Where's the real Borsch?"

03 Aug 2010 11:55 AEST

Deb Wise

Gosnells

My Version

I an Australian and have made my own version of Borscht, which I served hot. I used organic beetroot which is full of flavour, and carrots, onions, garlic and celery. I cooked all the chopped vegetables in water with just vegetable salt as flavouring and blended the soup until it was smooth with a little sour cream so it comes out a divine crimson colour. I served it with more sour cream. It tasted wonderful, thick and rich and delicious.

19 Jan 2010 10:43 AEST

Kris

Melbourne

Barsch

I am Polish. we too cook this soup. Traditionally it is liquid without vegetables, a little piquant and we do have it with sour cream and may have this on special occasions like Christmas Eve but would not be cooked on a beef stock. I love this particular version of the soup. In Winter my mum would also make the Russian version which is based on a beef stock and cabbage and other vegetables added and is a more hearty soup.

24 Dec 2009 07:55 AEST

Elle Queue

Sydney

Reply to Beej - Ukrainian?

My mother is Ukrainian and I grew up on this soup. It was much chunkier.

30 Jul 2009 01:04 AEST

Beej

Brisbane

Ukrainian?

I lived in Ukraine for 2.5 years, and there the general concensus (even from Russians who lived there) is that Borshch is Ukrainian. It is ubiquitious. It was always chunky (sometimes almost clear red), served with dill as a garnish rather than an ingredient, accompanied by a huge dollop of sour cream, and cooked with ham or pork bones. The Ukrainians I spoke to shrouded borshch in mystery, claiming it took a whole day to cook it properly. Whatever... each one I tasted was delicious!

11 Jul 2009 07:01 AEST

Rov

South Australia

Jewish Russian/Ukranian Borscht

My grandmother and mother both used to make borscht and I can confirm that they NEVER put any meat or cabbage into it. I have tried, many times, to replicate how they made it, but somehow it never comes out tasting of very much except sweet and sour hot water. Perhaps the beetroot we get today doesn't taste of much. I somehow think that there is a carrot and stick of celery missing from this recipe.

23 Apr 2009 09:03 AEST

Val

New Zealand

Russian borsch

Hi everyone. I am originally Russian and borsch is our fav dish. The basic borsch (Russian) is cooked with MEAT on bone that gives a rich and flavorsome taste. We also add CABBAGE. AND we dont blend the borsch - it is chunky soup! As far as mony people think of a borsch as a Russian dish - Well, not in this case! What you see here is a beautiful variation. Boun Appetite

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