The first part of this post was written by our daughter Katie a few years ago. I’m featuring Nadia (babushka) today instead of Moisi for Tuesday With Moisi. The photo above was taken in 2013.

• • Gimme my Babushka’s cooking and I’ll be content

  • The sort of Russian/Persian cuisine that my Baba (Grandma) makes… I would be a happy camper for a year with yummy borscht, galupsi, kulyich, syrny paska, lapsha, varenky, shashlik, and a million other treats that I would butcher just as badly trying to spell in English…I can say most of them but they’re sure hard to type. Just make sure you give me a good supply of sour cream, and can I bend the rules to include my Mom’s “green borscht” which is spinach soup we chop up hardboiled eggs in? I was never entirely sure where that soup’s origins really lay…I could never get sick of all the lamb and cabbage and butter filled goodness, heck I even like the Russian candies my Deda (Grandpa) keeps around though none of my cousins do. My mouth is watering already. ~ Katie
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  • Many Borsch recipes include beets in them. The familiar Borsch that we grew up with and that we had at Molokan Church Meals did not have beets in it. Here is my mother’s recipe. Our people don’t pronounce Borsch with a “t” on the end.

    Nadia’s Borsch

    For the Stock:
    1 Seven Bone Roast or Chuck roast if you can’t find Seven Bone
    1 onion
    1-3 celery stalks with leaves
    2-3 carrots
    2 bay leaves
    5-10 peppercorns
    Salt to taste

    Salt and pepper the roast and sear it on all sides. Put the roast in a stock pot and cover with water. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Simmer and cook until roast is fork tender. Remove the meat and set aside. Discard the stock vegetables.

    Soup Ingredients:

    1 head of cabbage shredded (green is what we use)
    1-3 carrots grated
    1-2 onions diced
    1 bell pepper seeded and diced
    2-3 stalks of celery diced
    1 jalapeno seeded and diced (optional)
    2-3 potatoes diced
    2 cans stewed tomatoes blended in blender (we have those that don’t like chunky tomatoes)
    1 can tomato sauce
    1/2-small bunch of dill (to taste)
    1 handful of chopped Italian parsley
    salt and pepper to taste
    1 can of garbanzo beans drained and rinsed (optional)

    Saute onion, bell pepper, celery and jalapeno if you are using one until onion is translucent.
    Add these ingredients to a blender along with the two cans of stewed tomatoes.
    Blend and add them to the beef stock along with all the other ingredients.
    Bring to a boil, then simmer until cabbage, carrots and potatoes are tender.
    Taste and see if the soup needs more salt or pepper at this time.

    

    The Borsch is ready now.

    My mother doesn’t include this in her recipe but when she made borsch at my house once I saw her add a half a cube of unsalted butter at the end. My mother mashes most of the potatoes to thicken up the soup a bit.

    You can serve the roast alongside the borsch with a good loaf of bread and of course…sour cream.

I made this pot of Borsch on Sunday and we’re enjoying it again today. I also took a couple of containers to Dan and Jamie’s today. We watched Addy while Dan and Jamie made a trip to Spokane to do some shopping.