Borscht is a traditional European soup, which should not be missing on the Christmas Eve table in a Polish home. However, this does not mean that you have to do it exactly the same way every time.
You can slightly modify your grandmother’s or mother’s borscht recipe by adding popular spices and additives. A slight change will make the dish perfectly seasoned, making it more expressive and aromatic.
Apart from home-made sourdough, spices are also of great importance in Christmas Eve borscht – they add spiciness, sourness or sweetness to the soup. The most important thing is not to overdo it in any direction. Try to combine them in such a way as to maintain the balance between flavors.
The three most popular additions to borschtwhich best suit him are:
- black pepper (4-5 grains per 1 liter) – gives sharpness and soothes the acidity of beets
- bay leaves (3-4 leaves per 1 liter) – provide a woody aroma and build flavor
- allspice (4-5 grains per 1 liter) – adds distinctiveness to the dish
In addition to them, when cooking, it is also worth enriching the broth with marjoram and nutmeg. If you like bitter, spicy spices, add anise, cinnamon bark or cloves to the borscht.
As a fan of spicy flavors, you will definitely appreciate the spicy notes of garlic cloves and chili peppers. A bit of thinly sliced ginger also works great. However, remember that it adds intensity and may cover the flavor of the beets.
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Dried mushrooms go well not only with scrambled eggs, fish or roasts, but also with borscht. This is one of the most interesting additions to this soup, but few people use it. It’s a pity, because it gives the dish a new depth.
Dried mushrooms (both in traditional form and ground powder) they have a characteristic intense umami flavor and a forest, slightly earthy aroma that goes perfectly with the sourness of beets. It is difficult to achieve a similar effect with other ingredients.
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WDo you oil sweeter foods? Then, instead of mushrooms, be sure to add dried apples to sourdough borscht. Optionally, you can also add a little lemon juice or honey. However, you can get more smoky notes with a slight aftertaste of sweetness by adding dried plums to the popular soup.
