I love Lena's borscht because there is no beef, no cabbage, and it uses all the parts of the beet (the beet greens in the soup are awesome). Below is Lena's original recipe, we made two small changes: parsnips instead of carrots (which was delicious!) and we used canned chicken stock instead of bouillon cubes.Lena's Borscht
- boil water + 3/4 Tbsp salt + bay leaf
- meanwhile dice an onion and grate 2 large carrots and 3-4 small beets (save the stems and leaves for later). add those to the boiling water
- cube 2 large or 3 small potatoes (small cubes). cut up a large red pepper. throw those in
- cut up the beet stems (NOT leaves). throw 'em in.
- cook all the veggies for 1/2 hour
- throw in a bouillon cube or 2 here
- add 3-4 Tbsp of ketchup (this is key, don't laugh!)
- boil another 10 minutes
- add half a can of red kidney beans
- add chopped beet greens. cook another 5 min
- make a little bundle of dill and parsley and put it in the pot for 15 min. (you can brace it with the lid so that one end of the bundle isn't submerged, so that you can get it out later!)
- you're done. serve with sour cream!
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