Making borsch (in 8 easy steps)

There are two ways to make borsch.

The first way is to invite over someone who knows how to make borsch.

The other is to roll up your sleeves and get to it.

I prefer the first method, of course : ) but for those of you inspired enough to try your hand at borsch-making, here you go!

Step 1: If possible, invite some friends over. Our borsch-production crew was composed of Ukrainians (two engineers, a pharmacist, a teacher, a schoolgirl) and Americans (ex-Peace Corps, English teachers, a programmer). Oh, and boil a beet.

You'll have to toss out the water, so just use tap water

Step 2: Make the bouillon. We used chicken (fresh from the village, killed two days ago) and onion.

Step 3: While waiting on the bouillon, open the champagne and start snacking!

(for peace of mind, I recommend never frantically making these just before you have to leave for work!)

Step 4: Back to the kitchen. Remove the onion and the meat. Add 3 handfuls of potatoes.

Step 5: If you chopped all your veggies ahead of time, bravo! If not, get started now. We diced onions, carrots, and cabbage in addition to the (cooked) beet.

You can dice or grate the vegetables

Step 6: Add chopped cabbage to the bullion. Caramelize the onions in a frying pan, then add the carrots.

Step 7: Add meat, beet, and tomato paste to the frying pan. Fry.

Step 8: Add contents of frying pan to soup pot. Let the flavors mingle for a bit, then serve.

Enjoy!!!

A big thanks to Sasha & Igor for bringing borsch to our kitchen for the first time. I'd been terrified of making it myself, but turns out it's not that hard! : )

And for the vegetarians out there, here's a nice little recipe for vegetarian borsch from another blogger.