I tried my hand at борщ/borscht for the first time tonight and MAN do I feel like I've been missing out for my entire life. I screwed some things up (the potatoes ended up a little undercooked and I think I could've cut the cabbage a little smaller, mainly. Also I forgot the garlic), but hot dang is it delicious. I would make this a lot more often if the ingredient list wasn't "basically your entire kitchen, and also beets, onions, cabbage, sour cream, and dill".
My step by step process in case any slavs here want to roast my borscht making ability:
Ingredients:
One can of carrots
One can of beets
One potato (russet)
One onion (yellow)
One can of beef broth
Half a head of cabbage (red)
Half a beef sausage (kinda brownish)
Don't have any measurements on seasonings because I tend to eyeball everything lol, but I used:
Paprika, Salt (Onions, Sausage, Potatoes)
Thyme (Potatoes)
Bay Leaves and Pepper (Soup)
Sour Cream, Dill, Chives, Parsley (Garnish)
Water
1. Chopped all of the main vegetables (potatoes, onions, beets). Unfortunately I'm poor, so I ended up having to use canned carrots and beets (but those can well apparently so whatever).
2a. Fired up a pot on medium heat (gas setting 5 for my stove) and splashed some olive oil in there. Then threw the chopped beets in there for about 10min or so.
2b. While that was going on I throw olive oil in another pan on medium heat (4 for me) with some paprika and salt and let that caramelize. About 10min.
2c. Fired up a third pan on medium heat (5 again), minced some beef sausage and started cooking that with paprika and salt. About 10min for this too.
3. While the onions and beef were going, I poured some beef broth and water in the pot with the beets. Chopped up half a head of cabbage (red, since they were out of green) and threw that in the soup with a can of carrots. Placed two bay leaves on top for flavor.
4. Added the onions and sausage to the soup. Threw my potatoes into one of the pans with some salt, paprika, and thyme.
5. Realized I forgot to turn the heat up on the soup, so I set that to medium high (7).
6. After about 10min I threw the potatoes in. In retrospect I should've tested them with a fork but whatever. Also added pepper to the soup.
7. Let that cook for another 10min, then removed the bay leaves.
8. Set the soup to Low to keep it warm, then served it with chives, parsley, dill, and sour cream.