{Vegetarian Borscht} | with White Miso
Borscht- It's not just for cold weather. I love how simple and versatile borscht is. Call me crazy, but I enjoy it at room temp in the warm months. This vegetarian iteration of the Ukrainian classic calls for usual yogurt garnish but adds the probiotic benefits of miso and sauerkraut as well.
Serve over 1/2 cup of a pre-cooked whole grain like barley and/or quinoa and/or 1/2 cup pre-cooked kidney beans; or cut a slice of cracked rye bread for dunking. Savor and enjoy!
Ingredients
2 medium onions
3 cloves garlic (crush and let rest for 10 minutes before adding to the pot)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 small head of cabbage (savoy, napa cabbage, red or green)
3 beets
3 carrots
3 tomatoes or 1 15-ounce can tomatoes
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 teaspoon sea salt or pink himalayan salt
1 teaspoon ground white pepper ( or black if you don't have white)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 bay leaves
5 whole cloves
1 teaspoon of organic mellow white miso per serving (add individually when temperature is not above 115°F)
1 tablespoon each of plain yogurt, parsley, fresh ground flaxseed and sauerkraut to garnish.
Optional protein boost: 1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Instructions
Add your oil to a big stock pot and set to medium-high. Chop the onions and garlic and start cooking.
I like to grate the beets and carrots by hand, but everything else gets chopped (when pressed for time, I use the food processor) and thrown into the pot. Don't worry about the order, but allow all the vegetables to simmer together before adding the vegetable broth and the spices.
After you've added all the veggies and let them simmer for a bit, add the broth, salt, white pepper, garlic, cloves (put in a tea/spice ball), lemon juice, and bay leaves.
This soup does not need to cook a long time—an hour at most!
While simmering, prepare your miso in a bowl adding 1 teaspoon of miso and 1 tablespoon of tepid filtered water per serving.
Turn off the heat, and dish out your bowls (about 1.5 cups per serving).
Let the temperature drop to 115°F and add your miso (divide your miso mix equally between the bowls- you can use a 1/2 teaspoon to keep adding until there is no more miso mix)
Garnish with 1 tablespoon each of yogurt, parsley and sauerkraut.