From my kitchen ... Borsch Soup

Many years  ago my nephew, who was working in Russia, came to stay with us. He is a very  affectionate  and lovable person. My grand daughters are very fond  of him and  are  informal with him. During his stay  with us, the girls   started   nudging him to cook Russian food for us.  I tried to wean away the girls  from making   such requests.  But they  were  adamant and finally succeeded in persuading him . He agreed (there was no  other way to wriggle out ) Typical Russian cuisine was  prepared in our house.  My husband ls a strict  vegetarian. His request was that nothing  non-veg should be cooked. One of the dishes  that was made  was Borsch Soup. All of  us  loved the  taste of Borsch  soup.In our enthusiasm we did not even ask him the  recipe.

          Today, after  a long period of time I came across   the recipe of Borche in a newspaper capsule 'Russia and India Report". My nephew is the editor of this paper. The paper carries the recipe of Borsch  presented by Elena Revinskaya. Old memories were revived. I am inclined to write the recipe for the benefit of my friends

Ingredients

medium potatoes 2

¼ medium cabbage, diced

1 large beetroot, grated (this soup has  a unique and unconvential flavour  due to beet root)

1 large carrot, grated

1 large onion, chopped

2 large tomatoes, chopped

4 garlic cloves chopped

1 tspCoriander leaves

1 tsp vinegar

¼ tsp sugar

Curd (substitute to sour cream)

Ground black pepper

Salt

Method of preparation

    Chop the potatoes into cubes and keep it for boiling

   Chop the cabbage into medium size squares and add into the pot soon after 

   Fry the chopped onions in the pan, add grated carrot, beetroot and 

chopped tomatoes and saute on a slow flame till they wilt and become soft. 

Then add the chopped garlic, sugar and vinegar and turn off the fire.

After the potato and cabbage are fully cooked in the pot, add in the sauteed vegetables.

Season with fresh  coriander leaves, black pepper and salt. Let it stand for some time, serve hot with curd (1 table spoon per plate) and garlic bread.

 Tip: In order to get bright red colour, do not overcook beetroot.

This soup  can be prepared  as vegetarian  as well as non vegetarian. If we are looking forward for a non vegetarian soup  we can add cooked meat after all the vegetables are cooked.

( Courtesy Sh.Ajay Kamalakaran  via India and Russia report)