I came across a jarred version of Hungarian Borscht by Gold’s on the internet. It’s different and is made of the usual soup vegetables, beets, cabbage and spicy paprika. I thought that sounds delicious and I happen to have beets and cabbage that I have to use up so I wanted to make it. I looked for recipes for Hungarian Borscht and came across many other varieties of borscht. There is Russian Borscht with cabbage, beets, potatoes, caraway seed, dill and sour cream, Another is Jewish Borscht that is cabbage, beets, tomatoes, short ribs and is sweet and sour. There is also meatless Polish Borscht that is made with a lot of mushrooms. Another is Mennonite Borscht that is made with a beef base and carrots, potatoes, beets, cabbage, tomatoes, allspice, star anise and heavy cream. I thought the Hungarian Style sounded like what I wanted to do today. I didn’t have recipe and winged it off the ingredients from The Gold’s Jar of Hungarian Borscht I saw on the internet. It came out FORKING DELICIOUS! It’s a hearty vegetable stew. It’s delicious and zippy…not as spicy as you might think. I didn’t call it Hungarian because I made up this recipe from just reading the ingredients from a jarred product. My idea of serving size may differ from your idea of serving size. To me this makes around 6 medium sized bowls.

Ingredients for around 6 servings.

2 carrots – peeled, diced

2 celery ribs – diced

1/2 large sweet onion – diced

1 hot Hungarian pepper – fine chopped (they sell them at Asiana Market I buy them and keep in freezer for when I need them..very hot but delicious)

1 lb beets – peeled, diced

5 oz tomato – diced

2 Tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

6 oz tomato paste (one small can)

5 cups vegetable stock

1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons Hungarian paprika

2 teaspoons hot paprika

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 small cabbage – sliced extra thin on a mandolin (I used green but either is fine)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large pot on medium high heat add the oil. When the oil is hot add the carrots, celery, onion, Hungarian pepper, beets, tomato, sea salt and black pepper. Stir well and cover pot and cook till vegetables or fork tender (around 9 minutes depending on dice size…timing may differ).

Remove cover and add the garlic. Mix well. In the center of the vegetables make an empty spot. In the empty spot add the tomato paste and stir it up bit to cook it up for a minute or two. Then mix it all up and add the vegetable stock and mix well. Add the paprikas and let this simmer around 10 minutes.

Next add the cabbage. Stir it around. Add the vinegar. Let this simmer around 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. A dap of sour cream or a hard boiled egg is optional.

It’s FORKING DELICIOUS!