Sorrel Soup Recipe (Green Borscht) (2024)

FAQs

How do you make Russian sorrel soup? ›

Sauté 1 pound young washed and stemmed sorrel leaves and 1 large minced onion for about 10 minutes or until sorrel is wilted and onions are translucent. Add 6 cups water or chicken stock and 1 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.

Traditionally green borscht gets its name from its main ingredient- sorrel, which is a green tangy, sour herb. Since sorrel was a hard find even in the ethnic markets, my mom used spinach, which serves as a great substitute. Other ingredients include potatoes, carrots, scallions, and hard-boiled eggs.

Green Borscht: When spring rolls in, so does green borscht, also known as sorrel soup. It's a lighter fare with zesty young sorrel leaves, potatoes, and a chopped egg, usually finished with a swirl of sour cream.

Traditional Ukrainian dishes often experience a complex heating process – "at first they are fried or boiled, and then stewed or baked. This is the most distinctive feature of Ukrainian cuisine". The national dish of Ukraine is red borscht, a well-known beet soup, of which many varieties exist.

Borscht. Probably the most iconic Eastern European soup there is, famous for its bright pink colour. Historically, borscht was made by Slavic people from parsnip or hogweed. It was also the poor man's meal, and idioms tying the soup to austerity have since evolved in several different languages.

Borscht Ingredients

Vegetables: You'll need beets, carrots, baking potatoes, cabbage, and an onion. Canned tomatoes: Use drained diced tomatoes and canned tomato paste. Vegetable oil: Cook the onion in oil. Water: You'll need almost nine cups of water for this big-batch soup.

Barszcz is closer to a beet broth, while borscht is traditionally thicker, often containing extra ingredients like meat, root vegetables, or cabbage, served with a dollop of sour cream and fresh dill.

Red borscht is the most popular borscht in Ukraine, it is prepared from cabbage, potatoes (from the second half of the 19th century), carrots, onions, parsley, dill, and beets. Green borscht is a sorrel or spring borscht. It is cooked in the spring, with young greens.

Although borscht is important in Russian and Polish cuisines, Ukraine is frequently cited as its place of origin. Its name is thought to be derived from the Slavic word for the cow parsnip, or common hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), or from a fermented beverage derived from that plant.

It's standard for Ukrainian cooks to use pork in their Borscht and top it off with sour cream, whereas Russian cooks are more likely to use beef. Furthermore, Ukrainians will offer buns with their bortsch, and Russians will offer a native bread known as “black bread.”

Is sorrel a type of spinach? ›

Sorrel is one of those greens that you see at a farmer's market but you think it is something else. I always mistake it for spinach but apart from appearance, they couldn't be more different. Sorrel is an herb with either shield-shaped or rounded leaves and other names for it are spinach dock or sour grass.

Mildly vegetal, like spinach? Maybe aromatic and herbaceous, like lovage or mint? No, sorrel doesn't taste like any of these. The closest taste to mature sorrel leaves is one you wouldn't expect: A tart, sour green apple.

The most famous traditional Ukrainian dishes are borshch, varenyky, holubtsi, Chicken Kyiv, banosh, and syrnyky, and it surely is not an exhaustive list. Borshch (sometimes written as borsch, borsht, bortsch, or borshch) is a sour soup with distinctive red colour.

What distinguishes Russian borscht from barszcz is that borscht is often made with meat, served with sour cream, and can be served cold, whereas barszcz does not usually include sour cream and is most often served hot. That being said, there is a version called barszcz zabielany that is creamed and served cold.

So Russian food incorporates a lot more moderately “exotic” cooking from her Asian colonies whereas Ukraine, Scandinavia, and much of Central Europe is REALLY heavy on pig products, root vegetables and things like peas and cabbage. Although Ukrainians tend to consume more pork dishes.

Cook sorrel in the same way as spinach, lightly steamed or boiled. Sorrel stalks can be cooked like rhubarb. The acidity of sorrel is tamed by cooking in butter or cream or by topping sorrel with a cream sauce. Sorrel soups are commonly thickened with eggs and cream.

Borscht ingredients may include beef, pork, salo (fatback), beetroots, cabbage, carrots, celeriac, onions, potatoes, mushrooms, tomato paste, parsley, chives, dill, bay leaves, allspice and black pepper. The stock is typically made by boiling meat, bones, or both.

If you don't know what is borscht, it is vibrant red color soup with cabbage, beets, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic. It can be vegan or vegetarian, as well as made with beef, pork or chicken. Then served with sour cream and dill.

What Does It Taste Like? Sorrel has a remarkably bright and tart flavor. Many people liken its taste to lemons which is likely due to its sour flavor. It can be tricky to work with since that lemony flavor is mixed with a deep grassy flavor.