Green Borscht with Pork Ribs

This classic green borscht recipe is very popular in Ukraine, where pork is the most widespread choice of meat. Hearty, thick and flavorful, this borscht is the ideal soup for cold winder days.

Cut pork ribs, place into a pot, add cold water, cover with a lid and quickly bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, remove any foam that appears on the surface and cook for 1 hour. Then add 1 whole carrot and 1 whole onion, 1/2 parsley root, 1/2 celery root and 1/2 parsnip root, add salt and cook for another 2 hours.

Peel and cut beetroot into thin strips. Place it into a little pot, add vinegar, salt and sugar, sprinkle some oil and mix well. Add 2 tablespoons of broth and stew on low heat until beetroot becomes tender.

Cut a carrot, onion, parsley, celery and turnip roots into thin strips. Add butter to a skillet and cook these vegetables for 10-15 minutes on medium heat.

When your broth is done, remove boiled vegetables and toss them. Add cubed potatoes, stewed beetroot, fried root vegetables and sorrel cut into strips. Salt to taste and cook your borscht for another 7 minutes. Then squeeze lemon juice and add chopped dill and green onion. Remove borscht from heat, cover with a lid and let stand for 20 minutes before serving.

In the meantime, hard boil eggs. Place them into ice cold water so they are easy to peel. Take them out, peel and cut into small cubes.

When serving the borscht, add cubed hard boiled eggs, chopped dill and a dollop of sour cream into every bowl.

You will need

For borscht:

• Water – 8 cups
• Pork ribs – 14 oz
• Beetroot – 5 oz
• 3 medium potatoes
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 parsley root
• 1 celery root
• 1 parsnip root
• 2 medium yellow onions
• Sorrel – 7 oz
• Butter OR vegetable oil – 5 tablespoons
• Sugar – 2 tablespoons
• White vinegar – 1 tablespoon
• 1/4 lemon for juicing
  
• Chopped green onion – 4 tablespoons
• Chopped dill – 4 tablespoons
• Salt – to taste

To serve:

• Sour cream
• Chopped dill
• 2 eggs

Options:

1. You can use the same amount of spinach instead of sorrel.
2. If you are using sorrel for this recipe you can skip adding lemon juice. If you are using spinach lemon juice is absolutely necessary.