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Sorrel does not seem to be commonly used here in America – at least my husband and his family had never heard of it. It is a very hardy and easy to grow plant that can be raised in your garden with little effort.
The recipe that I present below is one that came from my Ukrainian Grandmother (known as my “Babushka”), and she taught my mother who then taught me.
I hope to teach my young son someday so he can pass this Ukrainian traditional soup to his own family.
Green Borsch may be prepared using any kind of broth, traditionally with meat – usually pork, and may be served either hot or chilled.
My family always served green borsch hot and this is how I prefer it. Additionally, I prefer it without meat, as in this form, it is light, tangy and especially delightful to eat.
The main ingredient for this borscht is Sorrel. Sorrel (or Schavel) is a perennial, so if you plant it in your garden, it will come up every year. I grow this wonderful sour herb in my garden.
In Ukraine green borscht is a traditional spring and summer meal. During winter we didn’t eat green borscht as sorrel has tender leaves that are afraid of frost.
Here is the US, I live in a mild climate and we rarely get frost during winter months. So my sorrel stays green all winter long and I can enjoy green borscht at any time!
If you would like to plant Sorrel in your garden, you can get Sorrel seeds HERE.
Green Borscht (Sorrel Soup), Ukrainian Recipe, Vegetarian
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Ingredients:
-2 qt of water
– 2 medium potatoes
– 1 medium onion or ½ large onion
– 1 medium carrot
– 2-3 oz sorrel
– 1 egg
– 2-3 Tbsp extra light olive oil
– Salt, pepper
– Parsley or dill
– Sour cream
Directions:
- Dice potatoes, finely dice the onion, grate carrot and chop sorrel.
- Fill a soup pot with 2 Qt water. Bring to a boil.
- Saute diced onion and grated carrot in 2-3 Tbsps olive oil over medium heat stirring, until the onion is softened, about 8-10 minutes.
- Add diced potatoes to the pot with water and simmer partially covered 7 – 10 minutes.
- Add sautéed onion and carrot, simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked and can be easily pierced with a fork.
- Bring the soup to a boil, add the chopped sorrel, and cook until wilted – about 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Beat egg and stir it into the pot. Pour egg in a thin stream constantly stirring a soup for you wouldn’t have large lumps of the egg. (Option – hard boil eggs, chop them and garnish soup in serving bowl). Simmer for additional 2-3 minutes.
- Serve in a soup bowl with 1 Tbsp of sour cream and garnish with chopped parsley or dill.
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See more:
Beet Salad Vinegret
Ukrainian Recipes
Hello!
I don’t know if this blog is active, but I wanted to ask… A few years ago I was workawaying in Barcelona and in the same house a guy from Ukraine also stayed. He made what I think is this soup (it was greenish, and tangy too), but instead of sour cream, he poured normal cream directly into the pot at the end of the recipe, while also emphasising something about not stirring or something so that the cream wouldn’t go bad.
Do you think it’s this recipe?? If not, what could it be?? I’ve been meaning to make it again because DAMN it was delicious but I could never find the name!!
Hello! I personally never had green borsch with cream in it. But, every region typically has its own twist on how they make traditional food. I did search and found a couple of recipes in Russian with cream in it (however, they didn’t say anything about not stirring cream). Unfortunately, I was not able to find any recipe with cream in English. If you want, you can do a search in Google cуп из щавеля со сливками, look at the pictures, maybe you will see soup that looks like you had. Then you can translate the recipe into English.
Can you freeze this soup?
I don’t know. I have never tried to do that.