Ukranian Borscht

Pisnyi Borsch Ingredients

Ukrainian Christmas Eve Pisnyi Borsch

Olga Yakymchuck is a competitive sailboat racer, human rights activist and a mentor in the Toronto Ukrainian community. For Ukrainian people Christmas is the most important family holiday of the whole year. Ukrainian Christmas festivities begin on Christmas Eve, January 6, and end on the Feast of the Epiphany. The Christmas Eve supper or Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper) brings family and friends together to feast in traditional foods and begins the holiday’s many customs from antiquity. This Christmas Eve ritual is dedicated to God, to the welfare of the family, and to the remembrance of the ancestors.

After all the food preparations have been completed, each person is offered a piece of bread dipped in honey, which has been previously blessed in church and a prayer is led. After the prayer everyone sits down to a twelve-course meatless Christmas Eve supper. The meal has been prepared with prayer and is offered with peace and love.

Borsch, or beet soup, is a symbol of Ukrainian people in the world and it is the second course of the Christmas Eve supper. Every year, Olga hosts twenty-five family members and friends for this ritual where she makes Ukrainian Christmas Eve Pisnyi Borsch from a recipe she inherited from her mother. The first time Olga made borsch was after her mother passed away.

Ukraine Christmas Eve Pisnyi Borsch

For Olga, food is used to “nurture family connections, friendships and myself. Food builds a sense of community.” This past holiday, Olga taught her young niece how to make borsch. “By working together, sharing in the labour, we share in the reward. Preserving cultural traditions symbolizes peace for me and for future generations.” The joy of witnessing her family and friends sharing food inspires Olga “to live my life joyfully and cultivate peaceful relationships.” Olga shares this holiday expression, “Sincere wishes for strong health, much fortune, clean water in the well, in the fields robust wheat, bread and salt on the table, and peace in the soul.”

MIR = Peace in Ukrainian

Ukraine Christmas Eve Pisnyi Borsch for Sviata Vechera

 Ingredients

• 3 medium beets, peeled and shredded
• 3 large carrots, peeled and shredded
• 3 medium baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 parsnip, cubed
• 1 turnip, cubed
• 1/2 medium head cabbage, cored and shredded
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 bay leaves
• 10 shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 4 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
• 1 cup white kidney beans
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• 1 (540 mL) can tomato juice
• 6 cups water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

Fill a pot with 3 cups water and add kidney beans. Simmer for about 1 hour or until beans start to split. Make sure beans are covered with water at all times during simmering. Drain beans to add to soup later.

Fill a large pot halfway with 6 cups water, add vegetable bouillon cube and bring to a boil. Add beets and bay leaves, and cook over medium heat until beets have lost their color. Add drained beans, tomato juice and all vegetables, except onion and mushrooms, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms and garlic, and cook until tender. Transfer to the pot and simmer for 10 minutes. Cover the pot and turn off heat. Let stand for 5 minutes Taste; the flavor should be tart, mellow, and full. For more tartness, add fresh lemon juice.

To serve, pour in soup plates and garnish with chopped dill. Enjoy.