The King of Culinary Arts - His Majesty Borscht
A short excursion into the history of this dish is notwill be superfluous, because today we will present a recipe for classic borscht. Surprisingly, at first borscht was considered a peasant food. But over time, the attitude towards it changed dramatically. This dish had a large number of famous fans. For example, Gogol was crazy about borscht. Of course, today you can no longer make borscht according to the recipe that it was, for example, in the 14th century. This is exactly the history of the beetroot soup so familiar to us. It is interesting that many peoples attribute to themselves the "authorship" of this dish. There is no point in starting a long discussion, and therefore, as a classic recipe, it is better to consider the one that the majority prefers. This is Ukrainian borscht with pampushkas. Attention, recipe. Necessary ingredients So, to prepare borscht, you will need the following ingredients:
- beetroot (2 pieces of medium size),
- broth (pork or beef),
- white cabbage (about 350 g),
- carrots (1 piece of medium size),
- sweet pepper (1 pc.),
- bulb (1 piece of medium size),
- potatoes (3 small pieces),
- garlic (3 cloves),
- beans (35 g),
- lard (50 g),
- tomato paste (2 tbsp.),
- vinegar (if desired, it can be replaced with lemon juice),
- salt, black pepper,
- greens (parsley, dill),
- sour cream.
Let's start cooking Even before you start cookingit is necessary to prepare the beets separately. It should be noted that they take quite a long time to cook. However, they only need to be half-cooked. The beets are pre-simmered over low heat after being cut into strips. It will be good if some juice forms during the stewing process. In no case should it be poured out. This juice must be left and then added to the pan, since it is quite concentrated, which will only benefit the taste of the borscht. The beets are stewed with a small amount of vegetable oil and with the addition of boiled water. It often happens to novice cooks that the beets lose color during stewing, become pale and not very appetizing in appearance. There is one secret here. To prevent the beets from "turning pale", you need to add a little vinegar to them when stewing. Some people think that vinegar is harmful to the body. And some people just don't like the taste of the bite. It can easily be replaced with ordinary lemon. By this time, the meat broth should already be cooked. It is better not to salt or pepper it, so that the dish does not seem too salty or peppery in the end. Preference should still be given to beef broth, since it is moderately fatty, unlike pork, which may seem too rich to someone.
You can't do without "frying"
Now we move on to preparing the speciala mixture of onions and carrots, which is commonly called "fried". Only in this form should these ingredients be added to borscht. A big mistake housewives make is that they add raw onions and carrots to borscht. Cooked onions look especially "deplorable". There is no need to even talk about their taste. How can you prepare "fried" without which borscht is not borscht? To do this, you will need to chop the onion very finely, then put it in a very well-heated frying pan with vegetable oil. The primary task is to fry the onion until golden brown. You do not need to stir it all the time. Because of this, it will not be able to brown, but will only become stewed and soft. Achieve crispy and ruddy onions over low or medium heat. At the same time, carrots are cut into strips, or more specifically, grated on a fine grater. If possible, it is preferable to use a grater for making Korean carrots. Such strips will look much neater and more appetizing. Carrots are added to the onion when it is already browned. Another 10-15 minutes - and the most delicious and aromatic "frying" is ready. At the very end, do not forget to add tomato paste. There is no need to salt and pepper the "frying". If desired, you can add bell pepper. It will give the dish a special note, but, as experience shows, not everyone likes the presence of pepper in borscht. It is believed that it is superfluous there. But according to the classic recipe, it is there. Using ready-made dried "frying" that is sold in stores is equivalent to disrespect for yourself as a housewife. You need to follow the recipe exactly.
Let's start "conjuring"
Many of the ingredients are prepared, which givesthe opportunity to start cooking the long-awaited borscht according to the recipe. Pieces of meat are removed from the broth. They need to be separated from the bone, if there was one, cut off the tendons or other inedible parts. The broth is put on the fire. The first ingredient that gets into the future borscht is potatoes. They are put in it raw. The potatoes are pre-cut into small cubes. Next, we proceed to shredding the white cabbage. This can be done either with a knife or a special grater. After cutting, the cabbage needs to be "kneaded" a little with your hands so that it gives its wonderful juice. Cabbage is the second ingredient added to the borscht. This needs to be done at the moment when the potatoes are still half raw. Lastly, pre-stewed beets and "fried" are added to the pan. from onions and carrots. You also need to add salt and pepper at this stage. It is important not to forget to add pre-cut pieces of meat taken out of the broth.
"The highlight" for borscht
At the end of the preparation according to the recipe, you need to add some borschtadd something that will make it borscht in the full sense of the word. Not all housewives know about one secret. And it lies in the fact that lard is put into the soup, but in a somewhat unusual form. Medium-frozen lard is grated and placed in a container. Then three cloves of garlic are taken and passed through a garlic press. All this is mixed and added to the pan. The borscht is ready! This dish is served with sour cream, which is put separately in each portion. If desired, you can decorate with herbs. It seems that something is missing? That's right. And these are pampushki. The recipe for their preparation will be revealed below.
Pampushka: the main "ally" of borscht
There is no doubt that such a hearty dish is worthbe sure to serve something floury. It would be trivial to eat borscht with bread. And why, if you can easily and simply make pampushki, which you can’t tear yourself away from, and together with borscht it will be a real culinary pleasure. Necessary ingredients To prepare pampushki for borscht you will need:
- flour (300 g),
- milk (1 tbsp.),
- yeast (10 g),
- vegetable oil (2 tbsp.),
- sugar (one tsp),
- salt (0.5 tsp),
- water (1 tsp).
Cooking pampushki First, we cook like thiscalled "dough". The specified amount of yeast is dissolved in slightly warm milk. Sugar, salt, vegetable oil and 2 tbsp. of 100 g of flour are added there. All the ingredients are mixed and then left for a while. The mixture should begin to rise and bubble. The bowl with the contents should be covered with a towel. After a while, the dough has risen. This means that you can proceed to the next stage. Milk and the remaining flour are poured into the container. The dough is thoroughly kneaded with your hands. The result should be an elastic "ball". It is placed in a warm place for half an hour. The dough has increased in size again. It is kneaded a second time and then divided into small "balls" so that one is approximately the size of a standard peach. The baking sheet for making pampushki should be greased with warm butter. The buns themselves are greased with beaten egg. This will also give them a ruddy appearance when ready. The pampushki are baked until golden brown at a temperature of approximately 180-200 degrees. As soon as the buns are golden brown, they can be taken out. Cover the pampushki with a towel for a while and put aside. This will help them "to rise". Someone may object: how then are pampushki different from ordinary yeast buns? The answer is simple. It's all about the special sauce for them. It is prepared from a mixture of salt, crushed garlic, vegetable oil and water. Before serving, each pampushka is dipped in the resulting mixture, which gives the buns an unforgettable taste. This is how you can prepare an unusual and very tasty borscht with no less amazing pampushki. It is unlikely that there will be a person who will say that this is not tasty. Enjoy your meal and have a good time making today’s recipe!
