Cabbage and Beetroot Soup (Borscht)

This is my variation of my Ukrainian Grandmother's Borscht. The recipe my Dad uses was her's. It's way too involved for my liking. Who has the time to make stock from scratch when perfectly good sock, or stock concentrates are commercially available? Not me, that's for sure! Plus, my Grandma's old recipe calls for chunks of browned diced beef in the recipe, I'm not a fan of chunks of meat in my soup, so I just omit it.

With my recipe, I dice 2 medium sized onions and add about 2 table spoons of garlic to a large pot with heated olive oil and sweat them down until the onions are transparent. Whilst that is all going on, I peel and grate 3 medium sized beetroot. I throw this into the pot and fill to the top of the beetroot with water.

Whilst the beetroot and onion mix begins to simmer, I take a quarter of a cabbage and finely shred it. This then gets bunged into the pot too. I tip a large can of baked beans and can of diced tomatoes into the pot, along with a few bay leaves and a sprinkle of cracked pepper and salt.

I then top the water level up and add one 'pod' of jellied beef stock concentrate and stir the mix. I pop a lid on and let the soup simmer away for around an hour or so, checking the liquid level and stirring occasionally.

When the soup is ready I chuck a handful of washed baby spinach leaves in just to wilt them. You can serve the soup chunky as it is with a dollop of fresh cream. If you're making for kids, like I often do for my Niece, I give it a quick blitz in the blender and serve her up her pink soup. She loves it and I'm sure you will too!