German Beet Borscht

Now there are a lot of Germany soups everything from vegetable soups topped with little dumplings, cabbage soups, creamy soup like asparagus, green bean soup and soups such as Horseradish soupm thickened with potato and garnished. Then you have the truly German soups like Sauerkraut soup and Kartoffelsuppe a potato soup and Beer Cheese soup.  Now this recipe for beet borscht is really good for a winter’s day or even a summer’s day, packed with flavour and its own special stock recipe as well. It is a true celebration of late autumn and winter vegetables root vegetables, cooked in its own spiced beef stock.

You will need.

1.5kg/ 3lbs of beef short ribs

3.5lt/8pt water

1tbsp allspice

10 to 12 cloves of garlic

200g/7oz tomato puree

1 large potato

1 large onion

1/2 cup rice

4 carrots, diced

2 beetroot

1turnip

1 parsnip

4 sticks of celery

1 / 2 cabbage, savoy

2 tablespoons caraway seed

450g/1lb chop tomatoes

Sour cream

Allspice or cinnamon

Fresh dill

First you have to make your stock now to do this you have to get a big pan and brown the ribs. Brown them off until they are nice and bark the browner the bones the better the soup.  When you are happy with the colure of the bones add the tomato puree, now add water and the allspice.  Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 3 to 4 hours, skimming the stock every now and then.  Strain into a large bowl, and put the bones to one side to cool. As the stock cool remove all the fat that float to the top.  Now once the bones have cooled remove all the meat from the bones and chop it up for the soup. While you are waiting for the bones to cool you can be chopping all the vegetables up in to a nice rustic shapes for your soup.

Now you are ready to make the soup, start by frying the cooked beef with the garlic along with the chopped tomatoes and caraway seed. Add the potatoes, onions and rice and let them cook down; add a little stock a bit like making a risotto. Once the potato and rice have cooked then you can add the other root vegetables and the rest of the stock. Let the vegetables cook for 30 to 40 minutes till tender. Then add the cabbage and cook that for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Finally to finish the soup top with a spoon of sour cream, chopped dill and sprinkle allspice or cinnamon.