This recipe is one of my husband’s favourite Romanian dishes, but I can’t share the recipe with you without first telling you a story about my husband in Romania.
Since I moved to Canada, I returned to Romania many times. The first trip was to introduce my boyfriend (now my husband) to my family, relatives and friends, and to show him my home country.
On our first trip to Romania, we went to the seaside. After our stay there, we were waiting in Constanta (a beautiful sea side resort) for a bus to pick us up and take us back to my home town. While waiting, my husband was approached by a female gypsy who asked him for money. I can’t remember what I was doing exactly, but I saw from distance when the woman started talking to him. Using broken Romanian, my husband refused to give her money and as I was getting back, the woman left mumbling something.
My husband asked what the woman said and I told him that she cursed him. We both laughed as we did not believe in her power. A few seconds later, a crow sitting on the tree under which we were standing pooped on my husband’s clean, ironed, light-blue T-shirt. Lesson learned! Romanian gypsies can communicate with crows and laughing at them can bring us trouble.
This borscht is rich in:
- Healthy fats from coconut oil
- Vitamins A, B6, C, K, fiber, biotin, and potassium from carrots
- Vitamin B6 and C, potassium, copper from potatoes
- Vitamins (especially A, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, E, folate) and fiber from green pepper
- Vitamins (K, B1, C, folate), minerals (manganese, copper, phosphorus), and fiber from green peas
- Vitamin A, B3, B6, C, E, K, biotin, folate, copper, potassium, manganese, phosphorus, fiber from tomatoes
- Vitamins K, C, A, folate, and iron from parsley
- Vitamins E, A, B6, K, fiber, copper, and iron from jalapeno
- Trace minerals from sea salt
- Manganese, vitamin K, copper, and fiber from black pepper
- Vitamin C from lemon juice
I realize that it is summer here and you might be wondering why I would post a hot meal when the temperature outside is high. I have to say that, no matter the season, I make a soup or borscht every 3 days or so year round. We never miss a day without having a soup or borscht on the table at dinnertime.
OK, so what is borscht? It is actually a hearty soup. Borscht is usually made with beets, according to Ukrainian tradition. However, in Romania I have never had borscht with beets, but with other types of vegetables, like you see below. The Romanian borscht is in fact a soup for which we use fermented wheat bran to make it sour. As my son can’t have wheat, I use lemon juice to make the borscht a little sour.
Beets or no beets, eating borscht is a great way to get vitamins and minerals, as well as plenty of fiber and water. Goodbye, constipation!
This recipe is very quick to make. All you have to do is to chop the vegetables, add them to a pot with coconut oil, sauté them briefly, add water, then allow them to cook until tender.
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 big carrots, cubed
- 2 medium-sized potatoes, cubed
- 1 green pepper, cubed
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 8 cups stock
- 2 cups green peas, frozen or fresh
- 3 small tomatoes, chopped (or 2 big ones)
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
- ¼ cup packed parsley, finely chopped
- sour cream – optional
- 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped in small pieces - optional
- black pepper powder, to taste - optional
- Sauté carrots, potatoes, green pepper, and celery in coconut oil for 5 minutes in a 3 quart pot. Add stock, bring to a boil, and simmer covered until vegetables are almost tender (approximately 15-20 minutes).
- Add green peas, tomatoes, and tomato paste and simmer for 10 more minutes.
- Remove from heat. Add lemon juice and sea salt to taste. Mix in parsley. Serve warm or hot.
- Optional you can add finely chopped jalapeno, black pepper powder, or both in your bowl prior serving.
- Our kids and myself don’t like it that spicy so we leave out the jalapeno, but my husband happily adds it to his bowl.
- Serve with a dollop of sour cream if you can have dairy. Enjoy!
Do you usually offer a soup or another liquid-containing dish to your kids every day?
Source of nutritional information: