My borcht recipe

I lived in Ukraine for 11 years, and so I learned to make borcht. The one I make now evolved from many different ones I was shown how to make, and from personal experimenting. I am happy to have had so many people show me their variation.

Ingredients:
Makes a medium size pot (6 liters)
1 kg of beef w/ bone (or 2 big chicken legs)
1/2 cup white beans (soak for 2-3 hours)
1 big beet root
5 medium potatoes
1 big carrot
1 big onion
1/2 medium head cabbage
1/2 big red bell pepper
2 bay leaves
3 peppercorns
3 spoons tomato paste
1 can crushed tomato (or equivalent is chopped fresh tomatoes)
5 heads garlic (you can use less)
100 grams salted salo (pig fat)
dill
1 cup sour cream


Cut the meat into pieces, put them in the pot & fill with water. Put it on high heat til it starts to boil, then lower the heat. Skim off any foam from the surface. Add beans & cover to cook for @ 30 min. Peel the beet, cut in half & put into the pot. Continue cooking.

Take the beets out after @ 30 min (the meat can just continue to cook on low heat). Put on a plate to cool off, while you peel & grate the carrot, chop onion, thinkly slice bell pepper, and 3 heards of garlic. Fry with sunflower or vegetable oil til the onions are done. Take the frying pan off the heat. Grate the beets & add to the frying pan. Put back on the heat & fry together, adding the tomato paste and crushed tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes). Put all of this into the pot.

Peel potatoes & add to pot, add bay leaves. Fill a little water in the pot if necessary (the soup level at this point should be about 5 cm from the top of the pot). Thinly slice the cabbage (thinly!), add in the pot. Slow cook about 7 min. Turn off the heat (check first that the potatoes are cooked).

Now the final finishing touch. Cut the salted salo into tiny cubes. Chop the remaining 2 heads of garlic and the dill. Grind together. Add to cooked borcht. Wait 10 min. Now it's ready to serve. Add a spoon of sour cream to your bowl of borcht. Serve bread along side.
Enjoy!