How to cook a tasty cabbage borscht

Low fat borscht recipes

Cabbage borscht is one of the most popular soups in Russia and Ukraine. Beets not only add that unique bright crimson colour to borscht, but also enrich it with unique set of vitamins, minerals and betain, an important anti-inflammatory element that got its name from Latin for beets: "beta". Betaine is known to improve your mood and strengthen immunity, it aids metabolism of fats, cleanses blood and liver and helps in decreasing blood pressure. Add to this anti-cancer benefits of beets, paired with the spectrum of vitamins and fiber, blended together in your spoon of borscht, and you will easily understand why cabbage borscht is considered a health food.

Cabbage Borscht cooking tips

• Sequence of adding vegetables to the borscht plays a major role in the looks of it. If you want it uniformly red, start with beets and add other vegetables.
• If you like your veggies soft, add cabbage when you add potatoes. I usually add it at the end.
• Borscht tastes even better after it spends a night in the fridge.
• Vegetarian or vegan version of borscht is very quick to cook, and it doesn't lose much of a taste in comparison with borscht that contains meat. However, it becomes health food instead of a contributor to the heart disease due to all that fat ending up clogging your arteries.
• Borscht is the healthiest cabbage soup for teh cabbage soup diet

  Check out classical Ukrainian borscht recipe . If you choose to cook a healthier version of it, reduce amount of fat and remove meat from the recipe. Wait, you might as well cook this one:

  Classical cabbage borscht

  I used to think that the tastiest cabbage borscht in the world is done with ribs and succulent chunks of meat. Turns out, vegan option wins in the competition with the meat version. Not only is has no cholesterol, contains less calories from fat, takes less time to cook, but also it is equally tasty. This classical recipe produces bright colourful borscht because beets are added at the end. you will need two pans to fry the veggies; but you will be rewarded with a beautiful looks and great taste of your creation

  Ingredients:

  • 3 quaters water or boullion, and 2 additional cups for cooking veggies
  • 1 big onion, thinly sliced using mandoline slicer
  • 1 big carrot, thinly sliced
  • 1-2 red peppers
  • 4 big potatoes
  • 1/8 head cabbage
  • 1 big beet root or 2 small
  • 1-1,5 cups pasta sauce or 2-3 tomatoes
  • garlic, bay leaf, black peppercorn or ground pepper
  • (optional) 1 vegetarian boullion cube, or mix od herbs: thyme, majoran, sage, tarragon
  • 4 tbsp vegetable oil

  Directions:

  1. When cooking your cabbage borscht with meat, prepare boullion without adding salt and separate meat from the bones. It would take you a couple of hours. If you decide to add a beef boullion cube, beware that you are loading your borscht with MSG. With vegan option, Step #1 is very simple: set a pot of water to boil!
  2. Peel and cut onion, peppers, beets and cabbage. Grate the carrots and beets or use mandoline slicer to cut them matchstick style. Sequence of adding vegetables and time to cook is very important for this recipe. If you cook this borscht for the first time, it is recommended to have your vegetables prepared (i.e. peeled, cut and cooked) before you throw potatoes in the water. When you develop a sence how long it takes you to chop and cook the veggies, you may change this sequence to reduce cooking time. This way you will also have to wash less bowls.
  3. Cut potatoes french-fries style. Again, using mandoline slicer it takes no more than 30 seconds.
  4. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan and add thinly chopped onion. Turn it often, and aften it starts changing color, add carrots and red peppers. If you have red paprika powder, it is a good idea to add it as well. Mix the veggies on the pan well, and add a cup of water. Cover, reduce the heat and let them simmer for 5 minutes.
  5. Let's start cooking beets. We will preserve their radiant color by adding tomato sauce and salt. Heat two tablespoons of oil, add beets, mix and keep on the high heat for 1 minute. Add pasta sauce, tomato sauce or fresh tomatoes, 1 tsp of vinegar and enough salt to salt the whole pot of soup. Add a cup of water, reduce the hear, cover the pan with a lid and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
  6. You water is boiling! Add potatoes.
  7. How do you like your cabbage, soft and red or crunchy and white? If you like it blended with the color of soup and soft, add it to the water once potatoes started to boil.
  8. Now that your potatos are almost ready, add beets; then the mixture of onions,carrots, and red pepper. Add you cabbage if you like it to preserve the color and crunch, and boil fo another 5 minutes
  9. What else is missing? Spices and herbs. Add chopped garlic, bay leaves, black peppercorns, salt.
  10. Adding dill and parsley is a must, the more the merrier. I also add a mix of sage, thyme, majoran and tarragon from my square foot garden.
  11. Traditionally, cabbage borscht is served with garlic rye bread, fresh dill and a splash of sour cream. Vegan option would be to use rye bread only - and most Notrh Americans don't like sour cream in their borscht anyway. Enjoy!
  
  
  

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