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Borscht with fresh cabbage, beetroot and meat

Borscht with Fresh Cabbage, Beets, and Meat

Utterly delicious, rich, and thick — lunch for the whole family! I've been making borscht with fresh cabbage, beets, and meat by this recipe for a very long time. What I love about it is how harmonious and balanced the flavor turns out. The borscht is especially good the next day, once it's had time to rest!

Yulia M.

Recipe author

Borscht with fresh cabbage, beetroot and meat

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Pork

600

Cabbage

200

Potatoes

Onion

Carrot

Tomatoes

Beet

Tomato paste

Water

2.5

Bay leaf

Salt

Dried spices

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 30 % 3 g

Fats 30 % 3 g

Carbohydrates 40 % 4 g

51 kcal

GI: 75 / 0 / 25

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make borscht with fresh cabbage, beets, and meat? Gather the ingredients. Use fresh cabbage. Wash the vegetables well and peel them.
Step 2:

You can use any cut of pork. But if you cook pork on the bone, the broth comes out richer. Place the pork in cold water, bring it to a boil, and cook for 1–1.5 hours. As it boils, skim off the foam that forms. Strain the finished broth. Cut the meat into pieces and return it to the pot.
Step 3:

Shred the cabbage and cut the potatoes into pieces.
Step 4:

Put the cabbage and potatoes into the pot of boiling broth and leave them to cook for about 15 minutes.
Step 5:

Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and grate the carrot.
Step 6:

Sauté the onion and carrot for 4–5 minutes over low heat. Then add the chopped tomatoes to the sauté. Fry everything together for another 3–4 minutes. In that time, the tomatoes will release their juice and soften.
Step 7:

Add the finished sauté to the pot.
Step 8:

Separately, sauté the grated beet. Add a little tomato paste to it — it gives the borscht a slight tang and a rich color. The beet will take another 5–7 minutes to cook. It will shrink a little during frying.
Step 9:

Add the sautéed beet to the pot. Add the bay leaf. Add a little salt and spices to taste. Stir, bring to a boil, and remove from the heat. There's no need to boil borscht once the beet is in — that would make it lose its color. Cover the finished borscht and let it stand for 15–20 minutes so it rests a little.
Step 10:

Serve the finished borscht garnished with herbs and a spoonful of sour cream. Enjoy!

Important! Whether or not the recipe specifies an amount of water for the soup, it's best to go by your own preferences (whether you like a thick or a thinner soup), the size of your pot, and the ingredients you're using. Remember that the author has their own idea of how much meat, potatoes, grains, and other ingredients belong in the soup, which may not match yours. In practice this means that if you're making it for the first time, don't cook a whole pot at once. Make a tasting batch — for one or two people. To do that, scale all the recipe's ingredients down to 1–2 servings, and figure the water at anywhere from one cup per serving (for a very thick soup) up to 1.5–2 cups (for a thinner one). Don't forget that some of the liquid will boil off during cooking. After tasting a small portion, you can adjust both the amount of liquid and the proportions of the ingredients to your taste. In time, like most experienced cooks, you'll be able to pour the water and add the ingredients by eye.
The tomato paste in this recipe can be replaced with canned tomatoes in their own juice, fresh tomatoes, or ketchup.
Besides pork, you can use any other meat in this dish. Keep in mind that the cooking time, as well as the flavor and calorie content, will change. For example, beef takes longer to cook than pork, while chicken breast or turkey takes less.