Borscht with grains and lentils

Generally I like to wing it with soups.  Even when I make a soup based on a traditional recipe, I find myself adjusting it to my tastes.  So it was with this borscht.  The germ of the idea came to me when I bought beetroots for a salad and wanted the nice firm beetroots.  I bought a leafy bunch with a vague plan to make borscht with the rest.  Then I looked around at recipes and then went with my gut.

I knew that I wanted lots of vegetables.  It was a soup to use up vegies from the fridge.  I could visualise some older vegetables in the crisper at home as I wandered around the supermarket with the recipe developing in my mind.  I also wanted to use some of the fresh beetroot leaves from the bunch.  I had a freekah and barley mix that had sat in the pantry too long.  Together with tinned brown lentils, these made it a satisfyingly substantial soup.  I looked up the borscht soups I had made in the past on my blog and other online versions.  The mix of sour (vinegar) and sweet (sugar) seemed important and contributed to a lovely flavour.  

I saw caraway seeds in one recipe which I did not have so I decided fennel seeds would work.  One of the brilliant things about the internet these days is you can come up with an idea and find someone online who has tried it already.  When I started blogging, there are so much room to be the first on the web with an idea but now it is a lot harder to be startlingly original.  It is much easier to convince yourself an idea will work because you can check how others have done it.

The above photo is of the finished soup in the evening when I made it.  The colour is noticeably different from the photo below that I took the next day.  The first photo was taken at night under the kitchen lights compared to the below one in natural light.  I am still unsure if it got pinker overnight.

This soup was different to the pureed borscht I had made before on my blog.  In 2008 I made Borscht based on a recipe out of the Entertaining with Cranks cookbook.  It had nutmeg and cloves and was served with cornbread.  I made a different Borscht in 2012 with cabbage, passata and cannelini beans.  It was coarsely pureed so it retained some texture.  The photos of both were sub-par.  I am very proud of the photo at the top of the post but give me another decade and I might see it differently.  It is all relative!

Earlier this year, I went to Borscht, Vodka and Tears (see photo in this MMC compilation) in Windsor for an amazing Polish meal.  I was struck how thin the borscht was compared to my pureed soups.  It was broth with a few vegies served in a mug.  It showed me how good a more watery soup can be.  I also love to have leftover soup but it was rather stodgy.  So I have started to add more water to soups so that they are more soup than stew.  It is such a revelation.  Above is my own mug of borscht at home with slabs of sweet potato, feta and olive focaccia.

Far more traditional was this serving of borscht with Polish potato and cheese pierogi and steamed brussels sprouts.  The plain yoghurt and fresh fennel on all my serves of borscht lifted it to amazing.  I was the only one eating the soup so I froze quite a few tubs of it.  It is a little crimson burst of joy in my freezer, a relief to see when I am too tired to cook.  I can see why a big of pot of borscht on an old wood stove in Eastern Europe might have been a warming comfort food in the depth of winter.

More beetroot recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Beetroot, apple and walnut scones (v)
Beetroot and caramelised onion galette with vegan mozzarella (v)
Beetroot and lentil salad with yoghurt dressing (gf)
Beetroot, raspberry and feta salad (gf)
Beetroot and rhubarb soup (gf, v) 
Beetroot risotto with chocolate and walnuts (gf)
Chocolate beetroot brownies
Falafel wrap with beetroot and kale
Golden beetroot nut roast (gf, v)
Savoury beetroot, carrot, chocolate and goats cheese muffins

Borscht with grains and lentils
An original recipe from Green Gourmet Giraffe
Serves about 6 (or more)

1/2 cup raw barley and freekah mixture

1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, sliced
3 medium beetroot, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 red cabbage, diced
2 medium potatoes, diced

10 cups water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp brown sugar
4 tsp stock powder
3 tsp flaked salt
2-3 bay leaves
2 tins of brown lentils, drained and rinsed
Plain yoghurt and fresh dill, to serve

Start by putting the raw barley and freekah into a small mixing bowl.  Pour in enough boiling water to just cover the grains.  Set aside to soften.

Heat the oil on low heat in a stockpot.  Chop and add the ingredients in listed order from the onion to the potato.  The onion should be soft and the vegies should be softened by then if you take your time with chopping and preparing ingredients rather than having them all ready at the start.  They should cook gently for at least 15 minutes.

Stir in the soaked grains (and their soaking water)with, cold water together with vinegars, tomato paste, sugar, stock powder, salt and bay leaves.  Turn the heat up to high and cover.  When the mixture boils, stir and reduce to low heat.  Simmer the for 20-25 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.  Remove bay leaves.

Add the lentils to the soup and warm through.  Serve hot with yoghurt and fresh dill fronds.

NOTES:

• Substitute other grains such as buckwheat or all barley if you don't have a barley and freekah mix.  
• Quinoa could be used as an alternative grain for a gluten free soup, but would not need soaking and setting aside until you add the water to the vegetables.
  
• Use other root vegetables such as white cabbage instead of red cabbage, parsnip instead of carrots, or celeriac instead of celery.  Beetroot is the main vegetable you can't change but other vegies can be changed depending on availability and preference.  Wintery vegetables and root vegetables are traditional.
  
• Substitute other pulses and beans for lentils. 
• If you want to use dried lentils you could add when you add the water
• Use red wine vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar if you have it.  From reading online, I think this is more traditional but I didn't have any.
• Sour cream is more traditional than yoghurt if you prefer it.  And feel free to use a vegan yoghurt or a sour cashew cream if you want a vegan soup.
  

On the Stereo:
Ladies of the Canyon: Joni Mitchell