Alissa’s borscht

Even if you aren’t hugely clued-up on Eastern European cuisine, the chances are you have heard of borscht. As food writer Alissa Timoshkina explains in her book Salt and Time: ‘Borscht to Eastern Europe and Russia is like houmous to the Middle East. We all eat it, we all love it, yet we simply can’t imagine that any other country owns the rights to it.’ And as much as Alissa loves a good traditional borscht, she admits to sometimes struggling with eating a ‘plateful of chunky discoloured vegetables that have given all their best to the broth’. This is her solution. I particularly love how the broth develops over time – if you can make it the day before you will be rewarded with a deeper flavour.

Great

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Peel the garlic. Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel and grate the carrot. Pour a tablespoon of sunflower oil into a large saucepan and fry the onion and carrot over a medium heat for 8 minutes, until softened and the onion is golden. While that’s happening, peel and grate two of the beetroots. Halve one of the peppers, remove the seeds and finely slice the flesh. Add that all to the pan with the onions, then stir in the tomato purée and a splash of water. Season well, and fry for a further 5–8 minutes. When it has all started to soften, pour over 2 litres of water and add the bay leaves, peppercorns, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, four of the peeled garlic cloves and half of the dill and half of the flat-leaf parsley. Season with a tablespoon of salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, finely grate in the remaining two garlic cloves and add half the sauerkraut with its brine and simmer, covered, over a low heat for 1 hour. Turn off the heat and let the borscht rest for another hour or so, while you prepare the rest of the elements.

Step 2

Here is where the recipe starts to deviate from tradition quite a lot: to prepare the vegetables that will grace the plate and also add extra flavour and texture to the soup, you will need to do a bit of roasting. Preheat your oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas mark 4. Peel the remaining four beetroot, then cut them into wedges and place in a roasting tray. Drizzle with sunflower oil, season with salt and the pomegranate molasses. Peel the red onion, cut into thin wedges and season with salt and the brown sugar to bring out its sweetness. Place in the roasting tray with the beetroot and roast together for 30 minutes. Drain the kidney beans, then dress them with salt, oil and the smoked paprika. Core and deseed the remaining pepper, then cut into thin strips and dress with salt and oil. Roast the beans and pepper together in a roasting tray, as they will need only 10–15 minutes.

Step 3

When all the vegetables are ready, strain the broth through a fine sieve or a muslin cloth, discarding the solids. Reheat the broth. Next create layers of texture and flavour in each bowl by adding a heaped tablespoon of the remaining sauerkraut to each, as well as a handful of roasted beetroot, onion, kidney beans and red pepper. Top each bowl with the hot broth. Chop the remaining dill and flat-leaf parsley, and sprinkle over the top. Serve with a spoon of dairy-free sour cream, or regular, if you prefer.