Soups Borsh (Elvyra's recipe) From: Oma Elvyra Probably the tastiest variant of the classical Ukrainian beetroot soup. Prep 0:30 Cook 1:30 Yields 6 servings Ingredients Soup: 2.5 l water 300 g pork meat with a bone 300 g raw beets, shredded, 600g = big beet 500 g potatoes, cut in cubes, 300g = big potato 1 tbsp canned beans, optional 140 g carrots, shredded, 140g = big carrot 140 g onions, finely sliced, 140g = big onion 90 g capsicums, sliced in thin stripes, 180g = one capsicum 2 tbsp tomato paste 4 tbsp vinegar 1 tsp sugar 3 tbsp of vegetable oil 3 bay leaves 1 tbsp salt 0.75 tsp pepper 1 tsp coriander 1 tsp dried leek 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp parsnip 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced Serving: 1 bunch of fresh dill, parsley 1 tbsp sour cream 1 slice of black bread or toasted white bread Instructions Add water to the pot, drop in the meat. Bring it to boil and let it simmer for at least 50 minutes (the more the better). Cut the veggies. With the hand colander remove the stains of meat in the boiling pot. Drop in the beets and potatoes into the pot. Fry onions with carrots on medium heat until softened but not completely cooked through. Then add capsicums, tomato paste, vinegar, and sugar, half a ladle of broth from the pot, and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add fried ingredients and optionally beans to the pot. Season the soup with bay leaves, salt, pepper, coriander, leek, oregano, parsnip. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Add chopped garlic into the soup. Put it off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes. When serving, pour the soup into a bowl, add the greens and then sour cream on top. Serve with a slice of (ideally black) bread. Bündner Gerstensuppe From: swissmilk.ch Eine Bündner Gerstensuppe schmeckt nach dem Skifahren im Engadin am besten. Aber auch sonst ist das klassische Schweizer Suppenrezept sehr beliebt.  Prep 0:30 Cook 1:00 Ingredients 1 Zwiebel, fein gehackt 1 Knoblauchzehe, gepresst 1 wenig Butter zum Dämpfen 300 g Speck, Bündnerfleisch- oder Rohschinkenabschnitte, klein gewürfelt 100 g Schinkenwürfelchen 0.5 Lauch, gerüstet, klein gewürfelt 1 Stück Sellerie, gerüstet, klein gewürfelt 2 Rüebli, klein gewürfelt 2 Kartoffeln, geschält, klein gewürfelt 2 Lorbeerblätter 100 g Gerste 2.5 l Bouillon 2 dl Rahm 1 Salz, Pfeffer 2 EL glattblättrige Petersilie, fein gehackt 1 glattblättrige Petersilie zum Garnieren Instructions Gerste lassen für mindestens 20 Minuten kochen Zwiebel und Knoblauch in der Butter andämpfen. Fleisch kurz mitbraten. Gemüse und Lorbeer mitdämpfen. Mit der Bouillon alles ablöschen, unter Rühren aufkochen. Suppe bei kleiner Hitze mindestens 30 Minuten unter häufigem Rühren köcheln lassen. Würzen. Rahm und Petersilie beifügen, in vorgewärmte Suppenschalen geben, garnieren und heiss servieren. Carpathian Green Bean Soup Carpathian Green Bean Soup Goes well cold and hot! Yields 4 servings Ingredients 500 green beans 200 gr creme fraiche Flour 1/2 table spoon Stock Fresh Herbs (dill, parsley) Salt, pepper Instructions Rinse, remove the tails from the green beans and cut them in half Boil the beans for 12 minutes (in salty water) Meanwhile, take the creme fraiche and add slowly the flour to it so that there are no “komochki” Remove excess water so that the water only partially covers the beans Add stock, and slowly (spoon by spoon) add the creme fraiche. Add salt, pepper, and herbs to your taste. Enjoy! Šaltibarščiai (Elvyra's Style) Ingredients For soup 3 onion leaves (chopped) 1 large (or 3 small, or 200 g)  cucumber (grated) 2-3 (or 200 g) boiled beetroots (grated) 1 bunch of dill (chopped) 1 l kefir (1.5l kefir-drink) mineral water for dilution Salt, pepper For serving 2 eggs (boiled, peeled, then cut in halves) 500 g potatoes, boiled Preparation Put to potatoes to boil. Optionally, after 10-15 minutes, put it on a backing tray and shove to the oven (200 C) for the next 10-15 minutes. Put all ingredients in a pot. Leave some dill for garnish. Add kefir. If the consistency is too thic, dilute it with mineral water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serving: poor the soup in a bowl, garnish with dill, then 1 half of an egg. Serve with potatoes on a separate bowl. Split Peas Soup Ingredients 500 g dried split peas 4-5 potatoes, cut in cubes 2 onion, finely chopped 1 carrot, cut in cubes 1 celery (optional), cut in small pieces 2 l stock (preferred chicken, could be pork) dill salt, pepper Method Prepare peas in a pressure cooker (30-40 min , 2 rings), keep the liquid for the soup later. Fry onion in the pan, until onion starts to yellow. Add carrots, celery, continue frying while constantly stirring. In a pot, add stock, peas, potatoes, and ingredients from the pan. Let it cook for 20 minutes on small heat, until the potatoes are ready. Season with salt, pepper, and dill.