Russian Meatless Borsht

Russian Meatless Borsht

4.5 of 5 (2)
member ratings
Nutritional Info
  • Servings Per Recipe: 4
  • Amount Per Serving
  • Calories: 208.5
  • Total Fat: 8.7 g
  • Cholesterol: 13.6 mg
  • Sodium: 1,258.6 mg
  • Total Carbs: 30.8 g
  • Dietary Fiber: 5.9 g
  • Protein: 4.8 g

View full nutritional breakdown of Russian Meatless Borsht calories by ingredient


Introduction

You can cut/shred all your veggies ahead of time, just be sure to keep potatoes submerged in water once peeled or they will turn brown.

If you have leftover cabbage and carrots, toss them in a bowl with a pinch of salt and use your hands to knead the mixture, similar to making dough. Makes a great low calorie and fat coleslaw-type side dish to a meal.
You can cut/shred all your veggies ahead of time, just be sure to keep potatoes submerged in water once peeled or they will turn brown.

If you have leftover cabbage and carrots, toss them in a bowl with a pinch of salt and use your hands to knead the mixture, similar to making dough. Makes a great low calorie and fat coleslaw-type side dish to a meal.

Number of Servings: 4

Ingredients

    * Carrots, raw, 1/2 cup, grated
    * Potato, raw, 2 small or 1 large
    * Cabbage, fresh, 2 cup, shredded
    * Salt,1/2 tbsp (adjust to taste)
    * Pepper, black, 1/2 tbsp (adjust to taste)
    * Water, tap, 6 cup (8 fl oz)
    * Bay Leaf, 2 leaves (not eaten)
    * Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 tbsp
    * Onions, raw, 1 small
    * Beets, fresh, 2 small or 1 large
    * Butter, unsalted, 1 tbsp
    * Tomato Sauce, 8 oz can
    * Sour Cream, reduced fat, 4 tbsp

Directions

Peel the onion. I don't like mushy onions in my soup, so I don't cut my onion, just leave it whole and throw it out later. If you don't mind onions, dice it up.
Peel and cut beets into strings.
Shred carrots (about 1/2 of a small/medium carrot)
Peel and cut potato(es) in fairly large pieces, about 1" cubes.
Shred the cabbage.
Bring salted water to a boil over high heat.
If you chose to leave the onion whole, you can add it now.
Once the water boils, add beets. Bring to a boil again. Add potatoes. Bring to a boil again. Add carrots and diced onions. Bring back to a boil. Add cabbage, bay leaves and peppercorn. Bring back to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 15 minutes or until cabbage is tender. Add a can of tomato sauce. The acid in the tomato sauce will stop the cabbage from cooking any further, so make sure it's tender enough to your liking. Cool until potatoes are fork tender.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil. Boil another 5 minutes.
If you want to add any greens -- scallions, dill, basil, cilantro (not calculated in nutrition info) add them as you turn the heat off. Add a tablespoon of butter and let the soup sit covered. If you are planning to remove the onion, you may do so now.

It tastes better after sitting for 20 minutes or so, but..it tastes great even before :)

Serve with a tablespoon of reduced fat sour cream, or reduce fat and calories without it.

For a more filling meal, boil chicken or beef separately, shred or cube and add to the soup. You can also use chicken or beef stock instead of water. If you are adding chicken or beef, you can use the stock from that as the base for your soup. Don't forget to adjust the nutritional info.
You may want to leave out the oil and/or butter in this case as they're only needed if there is no other fat added.

Makes about 4 servings.

Prep time and cooking time can be somewhat combined as you can cut and shred as the soup is cooking. The smaller you cut your potatoes, the faster they will cook therefore reducing your cooking time. But if they are too small, they may turn to mush while cabbage and beets are still cooking.

Number of Servings: 4

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user MKOROLEV.

Member Ratings For This Recipe


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    Incredible!
    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
    If you leave out the potatoes and butter, and sub veg. oil for the olive oil, you have the Armenian version of this borsht (which is surely borrowed from the Russians). The Armenians use the oil to sautee onions and garlic first, then the carrots. It is amazingly simple and delicious. Great recipe! - 12/5/09


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    Very Good
    tasty low sodium - 7/16/19


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    Tasty - 7/9/19


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    tASTY - 5/30/19


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    sounds tasty - 5/7/19


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    will try - 4/26/19


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    I whirred it up with my stick blender. Yummy! - 3/18/18