This white borscht recipe was my first attempt at recreating an old Polish dish I remember from my childhood. Everyone does it differently. Garnish with fresh dill sprigs.
Ingredients
- water: 9 cups
- kielbasa sausage: 3 pound
- garlic, whole: 2 clove
- butter: 3 Tbsp
- leeks: 2 piece (chopped)
- medium white onion: 1 piece (diced)
- garlic: 3 clove (minced)
- bay leaves: 2 piece
- ½ cups sour cream: 1 piece
- all-purpose flour: 0.25 cup (or more if needed)
- fresh dill: 0.25 cup (chopped)
- white vinegar: 2 Tbsp (to taste)
- salt and ground black pepper: (to taste)
- hard-cooked eggs: 4 piece (chopped)
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Bring water, kielbasa, and 2 whole cloves garlic to a boil in a large pot. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove sausage and pour liquid into a separate bowl. Cut sausage into cubes. Discard garlic.
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Melt butter over medium heat in the same pot. Add leeks, onion, and minced garlic; cook and stir until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer vegetables to a blender; add about 1/2 cup reserved sausage water and blend until smooth, adding more water as needed.
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Pour vegetable purée and remaining sausage water back into the original pot. Add bay leaves and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove and discard bay leaves.
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Whisk sour cream and flour together in a bowl until smooth; gradually whisk into soup until thickened. Stir in dill and vinegar, then season with salt and pepper.
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Divide cubed sausage and chopped eggs into bowls; ladle soup over top.