Ukrainian Borshch

This was my favorite meal while I lived in Ukraine.  It's healthy, easy to make, and delicious.  

Ingredients:  1 chicken leg on bone, 2 medium whole tomatoes, 1 medium beet peeled and grated, 1 carrot peeled and grated, 1 medium sweet or yellow onion chopped, 2 tbsp sunflower or olive oil, salt, pepper, 1 red bell pepper chopped, 2-3 potatoes peeled and cubed, 1 handful white beans (canned or dry.  If dry, pre soak overnight), 1 spoonful tomato paste, 1 chicken bouillon cube, 3 cupbs cabbage thinly sliced, 1 tbsp fresh dill chopped, 1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped.

Directions:  

• if the beet is hard, boil for 45 minutes to 1 hour the evening before until medium-soft.
• in a large soup pot with 6-8 cups of water, bring chicken leg to boil.  
• wash tomatoes and add to boiling water.  Boil 15 minutes then remove tomatoes and chicken.
• clean chicken off bone then set aside for later
• Peel and grate soft beet and carrot; chop onion.  Fry the beet, carrot, and onion in oil for about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper then cut and add the bell pepper and sauté for 5 more minutes.  
• Peel and cube potatoes while sautéing veggies then add potatoes to chicken stock (boiling water in pot).  Also add the beans.  Simmer for 5 minutes or until potatoes are softened but keep form.
• Add sautéed mixture, bouillon cube, tomato paste, already boiled tomatoes, and chicken pieces to the pot. Simmer 15 more minutes.
• While simmering, slice cabbage, parsley, and dill and add them after the 15 minutes of simmering is done.  After you add the cabbage, parsley, and dill, simmer for 10 more minutes.  

Although a little time consuming to make, it is a great meal!  I have another version of Ukrainian Borshch that my host mother taught me to make in a blog called Ukrainian Borshch 2 that is less time consuming since you can make the bulk of it ahead of time and store it.