Meatless Borscht

Meatless borscht seems to go against the very nature of what most people consider to be a proper borscht -- beefy, beety, but mostly beefy. There are of course cold borschts, svekolnik and whatnot -- but this is not quite it. Despite its contrarian nature, it's a very hearty and versatile(and delicious!) soup that takes very little in terms of time and resources. It tastes best if you let it "steep" overnight or longer, so it's best made in advance.

Bonus: Here is a photo of me eating borscht a million years ago, and one of the few extant color photos from my childhood:

There are of course a million shades of borscht, and as you may have noticed this one is red as opposed to a vibrant purple or deep crimson. Red borscht is Ukrainain borscht, for those of you who like to know just what breed of soup you are eating.

Meatless Borscht

Ingredients:
Half a head of cabbage
1 large raw beet or 1 can of beets
1 can kidney beans
2-3 carrots (more if your carrots are tiny)
1 onion
4-5 teeth of garlic
A few potatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp white vinegar
Salt to taste

1. Fill a 6qt dutch oven or stock pot about halfway with water and bring to a boil. Once your water's boiling, add thinly shredded cabbage. You can chop your cabbage by hand if you have that sort of mechanical prowess, but using a good mandoline or food processor is easiest. Let that simmer on a medium heat while you prepare the heart of the soup (and truly, of every soup) the "zapravka", or filling.

2. I like everything in my borscht to be roughly the same size, so I use the same fine julienne blade on my mandoline to cut my carrots, beets and onion. Finely chop your garlic. Heat up some canola oil in a pan and brown your onions and garlic. Add carrots, then beets and let it fry up for a minute or 2, stirring often. Stir-fry it. If you're using canned beets, go ahead and add the liquid from the can to the simmering cabbage. Add tomato paste, sugar, white vinegar and mix thoroughly. Let it simmer for a few minutes longer, stirring occasionally.

Your stovetop should look something like this, but hopefully cleaner.

3. Add your zapravka and diced potatoes to your simmering cabbage and salt/pepper to taste.  Let it simmer covered on a medium-low heat until the potatoes are cooked. Add a can of drained kidney beans a few minutes before the potatoes are completely done. I mean, if you like overcooked kidney beans you can add them whenever and forget about the soup altogether until the potatoes(and therefore the soup) are done...but I prefer to add them sometime near the end.

And that's it! You can, of course, eat your borscht right away...but I'd say you'd be wasting it. The key to a good borscht is to let it sit for a while and develop its flavors. The older it is, the more delicious it becomes. Day-old borscht? Terrific. Three-day borscht? Heaven in a bowl. It will be fine on the counter in most climates, but you can transfer it to the fridge if you're squeamish.

Serve hot or cold. Sour cream is a traditional accompaniment, as is a clove of garlic and a piece of dark rye bread.