Borsch With Fish
Updated May 8, 2024
- Total Time
- 2 hours, plus at least 3 hours soaking
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- ⅔cup dried cannellini beans, rinsed (see Tip)
- 3bay leaves
- ½tablespoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1medium beet, peeled
- 1large carrot
- 1onion, any kind (except sweet)
- 1medium red bell pepper
- 4medium potatoes (peeled or unpeeled)
- 1small bunch dill
- ½small head cabbage (¾ pound)
- 3tablespoons olive oil
- 1½teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2cups tomato juice
- 1 to 2(8-ounce) cans sprats in tomato sauce, or sardines in tomato sauce
- Sourdough bread (preferably 20 percent whole wheat or rye) rubbed with garlic, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
342 calories; 8 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 60 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 12 grams protein; 1032 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Place the beans in a medium bowl and add enough water to cover by 4 inches. Let soak for at least 3 hours and up to overnight. Drain and rinse the beans. Fill a large pot or Dutch oven with 8 cups of water, add the soaked beans, bay leaves and salt, and bring to a boil over high. Reduce the heat and let simmer until the beans are tender, 30 minutes to 1½ hours, depending on soaking time and age of beans.
- Step 2
While the beans cook, use the large holes of a box grater to shred the beet, then the carrot. Finely dice the onion and bell pepper. Cube the potatoes into medium pieces. Chop the dill. Shred the cabbage using a knife.
- Step 3
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the shredded beets, sprinkle with the sugar and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, then add the carrot and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and wipe out the pan.
- Step 4
Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and lightly browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the tomato juice into the pan, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Step 5
Once the beans are done cooking, add the potatoes and the beet-carrot mixture to the pot, bring to a boil over high, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Add the bell pepper and onion-tomato mixture. Let simmer for 10 minutes, then add the cabbage to the pot along with the sprats and dill, and let simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Step 6
Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let sit for 20 minutes to let all the flavors mingle. Remove and discard the bay leaves and adjust salt level as desired. Enjoy warm or at room temperature. Serve with a side of sourdough bread rubbed with garlic.
Tip
- You can substitute the dried beans with 1½ cups rinsed, drained canned cannellini beans and use 8 cups vegetable broth instead of water. Don’t add the beans to the pot until Step 5; add them along with the potatoes and beet-carrot mixture.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Amy
Guys everyone is freaking out about sugar and it's silly. One and a half TEAspoons of sugar is very, very little. You will not taste the sweetness, it's just going to enhance the flavor of the beets and help the flavors of everything else meld. This small amount of sugar in a relatively large recipe is not going to put you into a diabetic coma oh my god.
Olga Koutseridi
You can absolutely leave it out. Anna is exactly right. The addition of sugar is to balance out the earthiness of the beets and enhance the natural sweetness which varies across different varieties of beets.
Carol Ann
Indeed, adding a bit of sugar does balance the flavour profile. I learned many years ago, from a very dear 'adopted' Jewish mother, that adding acid (in the form of sour salt) or sugar, depending on the soup brought rave reviews. I believe the practice is almost standard across many central and eastern European cuisines.
Andrew
The reason for the addition of granulated sugar is to counteract the acidity of the tomato. It isn’t really to make the soup sweeter, but rather to balance the flavors, in this case, balancing acidity. It won’t make the soup really sweet.
pinksoda
As a student at the University of Michigan I always got the borscht that was served at a cafeteria called The League. There were two cafeterias there -- one for students and one for faculty. I always ate in the faculty one. The soup was amazing and I spent years trying to duplicate it. I finally found a Ukrainian version online that I really like. The author stated the biggest issue with borscht is whether the cook adds sugar or not. I have had it both ways, but make mine without.
Dima
Plus the potatoes are a lot worse for diabetic diets than the sugar is. If you're going to complain about glycemic load the potatoes are your problem, not the sugar.
Dima
Fish is very non-standard in traditional Borsch. The soup varies heavily by region throughout Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania. There are many vegetarian versions since Orthodox Christians give up all meat and fish for lent. Try this vegetarian version on the times website: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019972-vegetarian-red-borscht , I can vouch it's authentic.
Anna
Some beets are not very sweet, even a little woody. In fact, not all beets are sugar beets!
Beth
Maybe miso, vegan fish sauce, or chopped mild kimchi to add a bit of funk? I am so excited to try this recipe!
Carl W
I do have a question about the cabbage. If I'm reading the recipe correctly you add the raw cabbage towards the end and simmer for only 5 minutes. Then you let the soup sit for 20 minutes. I know you want the cabbage to have a little crunch but is this enough cook it so that it's not totally raw?
EricJM
It's plenty of time for it to wilt and blend in with all the ingredients.
April K
where is the fish?
Chris
The soup was very good by itself, but absolutely fantastic with some creme fraiche and the garlic rye. These are "musts" that should be a last step of the recipe in my opinion. Since rye is occasionally hard to find, I sub Caesar salad style garlic croutons and that is 98% as good.
Chris Potter
This recipe is terrific. It takes some doing. Both times I made it, I used canned beans. I want to rewrite the prep steps for that. The sugar (a tiny bit over a recipe that will feed six easy and probably more) is minuscule. The sauté and simmer reminds me of the old Julia Child ratatouille recipe with a wildly different flavor profile but just as complex and delicious. My friends and fam are raving. Slava Ukraini!
JD
Bean cooking stage: Covered or uncovered? I did uncovered, and there's not much liquid left. I'm wondering if I need to add water to make up for evaporation.
JD
Edited to comment above: I obviously will need to add water for the potato cooking stage. Perhaps the recipe can be modified to reflect this. My bad: should have known to cook beans covered!
gc
less potatoes
Col-
This is very good. I used canned sardines and it was a hit with us and the neighbor. It gets better the next day
Lady Catherine
I wasn't sure at first because of the unfamiliar ingredients of fish, beans and peppers, but this recipe ended up being great! I am so happy to have found a tomato-based borsch - the closest yet to my grandma's recipe. A few notes: * used a whole pack of dried great northern beans - that worked * something went wrong with my cabbage. Did others use red cabbage? How thinly did you shred it? * the fish broke into tiny little pieces, but that was fine * next time I will use more beets
Meta
Too much work for the payoff. It was good and certainly healthy but way too many steps for a 'good' soup, but not a great soup.
Rebecca
I hate sardines and am not sure that I can get sprats in my area (and I don't know whether I like them or not). Is there some other fish that I could use (cooked or uncooked)?
Christine Potter
A bit of a fuss, but well-worth it. A healthy and comforting soup and the sardines are wonderful in it. I want to try sprats next time, and maybe go from dried beans instead of canned. Also: this recipe makes PLENTY. Looking forward to leftovers tonight.
Ted
Great recipe! Prepared according to the recipe. I served it with marble rye bread and sour cream and everyone really enjoyed it. My son who had lived in Ukraine said it was very authentic, although he hadn't had it with fish before.
Andy Marks
Delicious! Definitely use 2 cans of sardines and maybe more beans ( we used canned). Oh: pumpernickel bread next time!
Fay
You say modern cooks often use canned fish in tomato sauce. What do traditional cooks do? Do they use fresh fish and diced tomatoes, or something else? And what sort of fish? With the current supply chain issues, I'm not at all confident of finding the canned ones in New Zealand supermarkets.
Carl W
One thing I noticed was in step 4. It does not mention to add the chopped red bell pepper to the onion. In step 5 you add the onion-tomato-bell pepper mixture so you need to read ahead. You may want to edit step 4 to reflect this.
SusanW
The wording says to add the bell pepper in Step 5 (which makes sense; you don't want to cook the pepper too long)
Carl W
I do have a question about the cabbage. If I'm reading the recipe correctly you add the raw cabbage towards the end and simmer for only 5 minutes. Then you let the soup sit for 20 minutes. I know you want the cabbage to have a little crunch but is this enough cook it so that it's not totally raw?
EricJM
It's plenty of time for it to wilt and blend in with all the ingredients.
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