Beetroot & Beef Borscht

📝 Ingredients

• 400 g braising beef (chuck or blade)
• 3 cooked beetroots (about 500 g)
• ¼ white cabbage (about 300 g)
• 2 carrots (about 100 g each)
• 600 g potatoes (4 medium, about 150 g each)
• 1 brown onion + 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp tomato purée + 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil (1 for the meat, 1 for the vegetables)
• 1 beef stock cube + 1.5 L hot water
• 2 bay leaves
• 15 g fresh dill
• 200 g whole milk natural yoghurt
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Stockpot or large casserole dish
• Frying pan
• Coarse grater
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Ladle

📖 Steps

1. Cut the beef into roughly 3 cm cubes, trimming off the largest pieces of fat. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the casserole over a high heat and sear the meat in two batches for 4 to 5 minutes, until the cubes are well browned on all sides.
2. Return all the meat to the casserole. Crumble the stock cube into 1.5 L hot water, pour over the beef and add the bay leaves. Bring to the boil, skim off the grey foam that rises, then cover and simmer very gently over a low heat for 1 hr 15 min.
3. Meanwhile, peel the vegetables. Cut the potatoes into 2 cm cubes and keep them in a bowl of cold water. Coarsely grate the carrots, thinly slice the onion and cut the cabbage into thin strips. Grate the beetroots (they stain: wear an apron) and chop the garlic.
4. After 1 hr 15 min, add the drained potatoes to the broth and cook for 10 minutes. Then add the cabbage and simmer for another 10 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.
5. At the same time, heat the second spoonful of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the onion and carrots for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring, until soft and lightly golden. Add the beetroot, tomato purée and vinegar, then cook for 3 minutes, stirring.
6. Tip the contents of the pan into the casserole, add the garlic and simmer for 5 minutes: the soup turns ruby red. Avoid a rolling boil, which dulls the beetroot. Remove the bay leaves, season with salt and pepper and taste: the borscht should be slightly tangy.
7. Turn off the heat, cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes so the flavours meld. Meanwhile, finely chop the dill and stir half of it into the borscht.
8. Serve piping hot in soup bowls, with a generous spoonful of yoghurt in the centre of each and the rest of the dill scattered over the top.