Cold Borscht with Baby Beetroot

Wash baby beetroot thoroughly and cut the stalks and green leaves off. Peel the beetroot, place into a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil uncovered. Cook on high for 30 minutes. Take boiled beetroot out, cool it and cut into strips. Strain beetroot broth.
Cut beetroot stalks lengthwise and cut leaves into strips. Bring the strained broth to a boil again and place greens and stalks there and cook for 20 minutes. Then add boiled beetroot, let it cook for 2 more minutes and remove from the heat. When the borscht cools down, add rye bread brew (kwas) and cucumbers cut into thin rounds. Then add cubed hard boiled eggs, nicely chopped dill, green onions and parsley. Mix everything well.
Serve with sour cream.

You will need

For borscht

• Water – 3 cups
• Baby beetroot with greens – 12 oz
• 2 cucumbers
• Chopped green onions – 2 tablespoons
• Chopped dill – 2 tablespoons
• Chopped parsley – 2 tablespoons
• Rye bread brew (kwas) – 3 cups
• 4 hard boiled eggs
• Salt – to taste

To serve

• Sour cream – 4 tablespoons

Making rye bread brew:
To make rye bread brew, cut a day old rye bread into pieces and dry in the oven until it develops a little darker color.
Place the bread into a deep pot, cover with boiling water and leave to sit for 5 hours. Add sugar and yeast to the mixture and leave in a warm dark place for 3 hours. Transfer into glass bottles or jars and leave in a warm place for 2-3 days. Strain and cool.

You will need:

• Rye bread – 5 oz
• Dry yeast – contents of 1 bag – ¼ oz
• Water – 12 cups
• Sugar – to taste

 
Option
You can serve this borscht with boiled potatoes  (18 oz).
Making boiled potatoes
Peel whole potatoes and place into salted boiling water. Add peeled yellow onion, 1 bay leaf and boil for 10-15 minutes. When potatoes are done, pour the water and take onion and bay leaves out. Dry potatoes a little. To do so, simply leave them in the pot with no water over very low heat for 5 minutes.
When serving, sprinkle with ground black pepper and chopped dill.

You will need

• Potatoes – 2 pounds
• Water – 3 cups
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 bay leaf
• Ground black pepper
• Chopped dill
• Salt – to taste