Fasting borscht Recipe

Peel beets, carrots, potatoes and onions and cut them into thin sticks. Peel the cabbage from the top leaves, drain the water and chop it finely. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, peel and cut into cubes. Peel and crush the garlic.

In a large saucepan prepared for boiling borscht, boil the water, sprinkle with a little salt. Put the potatoes and cabbage, simmer over low heat. At the same time, heat vegetable oil in the pan, put the onion and carrots. Fry with constant stirring for 5 minutes.

Add half of the prepared beets, vinegar and sugar. Stir, reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer for 10 minutes. Put the remaining beets in a bowl, pour boiling water, add 1 tsp. vinegar and let it simmer (you will need the resulting beet juice at the end of cooking to make the borscht color sharper and brighter).

Add the tomatoes to the vegetable pan, season with salt and pepper to taste, cover with a lid and simmer for another 20 minutes. Transfer the stewed vegetables to a pot with potatoes and cabbage.

Add bay leaf. Increase the heat, bring the fasting borscht to a boil, carefully foam with foam. Add garlic to the fasting borscht. Cover with a lid and immediately remove from heat. Leave under the lid for 10 minutes.