Your Ukrainian digital gift

Ingredients

• 2.5 litres water
• 300–400 g beef or pork on the bone (or skip it for a meatless pot)
• 3 medium beets (about 400 g), peeled and coarsely grated
• 3 medium potatoes (about 400 g), cubed
• 1/4 head of white cabbage (about 300 g), finely shredded
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1–2 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice — this is what keeps the borshch red
• 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp salt (more to taste), black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed, added at the very end
• To serve: sour cream, chopped fresh dill, dark rye bread

Method

1. Put the meat in 2.5 litres of cold water, bring to a bare simmer and cook 60–90 minutes, skimming the foam off the top. Salt it near the end. Lift the meat out, strip it from the bone, cut it up and return it to the pot. (Meatless version: bring 2.5 litres of salted water to a simmer and start at step 2.)
2. Add the potatoes to the broth and cook 10 minutes, then add the cabbage and cook 5 minutes more.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan and soften the onion and carrot over medium heat, 5–6 minutes.
4. Add the grated beets, tomato paste, a ladle of broth from the pot and the vinegar. Stew, covered, about 10 minutes — the vinegar goes in here, with the beets, not at the end.
5. Tip the whole pan into the pot. Add the bay leaves and pepper and simmer gently 5–7 minutes. Taste for salt and sourness.
6. Turn off the heat, stir in the garlic, cover, and let it stand at least 20 minutes. Borshch always tastes better rested — and better still the next day.
7. Serve with a spoonful of sour cream, plenty of dill, and bread.