Question by ShortcutHerbal Goody: Anyone Like Borsch? And How about Holapchee?
I know I got that last word spelled wrong! In case you don’t know what I’m asking Borsch is
Beat Soup and Holapchee is Cabbage Rolls.
Sometimes I toss left over Cabbage Rolls into my Borsch. I usually have some left over Borsch and left over Cabbage Rolls in the Fridge
and often combine the two. (Oh next food question I do will be to do with leftovers and some perogie recipes).
Borsch and Cabbage Rolls I like almost as much as perogies. Borsch, Cabbage Rolls are foods that taste better the next day. Sure they are great the first day but for some reason even better tasting the following day.
I make my Borsch using lots of beats, potatos, tomatos, spinach, tartar cream mixed with sour cream.. 2 tsps vinegar.
I prefer ruby read beets cause they make the borsh a nice dark red. Not as dark red if these beets are fresh from the garden. I don’t know why they produce dark color when they are older.
I also put a hint of jalopeno in my borsch
I use soya sauce instead of salt! Borsch isn’t really a Peseant dish. I heard that a Polish King invented Borsch. Cabbage rolls I don’t know who invented them. I’m Ukrainian not Polish but not much difference is there?
My Grandmother.. Everyone calls Bupkca made borsch on the chunky side! (She promised to teach me Ukrainian language before she passed on but she did pass on and didn’t get to teach me Ukrainian Language)
Answers and Views:
Answer by eejonesaux
Hi,,, i ate borsch when i was working in Russia and Kazakhstan,,it was not too bad…. the cabbage rolls,,,, umm,, were ok,, not my favorite….
Read all the answers in the comments.
What do you think?
justagrandma says
Its not my cup of beet soup, but that and schav (spinach soup)and what we used to call grumpke (that's phonetic) are common in the Baltic countries. My ex used to make fun of me because I put raisins in the meat mixture for the cabbage rolls and they were on the sweet/sour side with a bit of vinegar in the tomato based sauce, but his family made them with just rice and ground meat. Most of the regions have a version of these peasant dishes. I liked mine better.
iritadragon says
There are many recipes for Borscht, as well as many recipes for Cabbage Rolls (I'm not even going to try doing the phonetic spelling of the other).
In my family we use a lot of different vegetables in our borscht, as well as the usual potatoe (cut up into bite sized pieces here) and beets (grated to make them easiest to eat). This is not at all like the original. And we do not eat it with the usual spoon of sour cream either.
As for the cabbage rolls, we make them more of a meal by using three pounds of mixed ground meat for every 5 gallons of finished product. And we use a lot more tomatoe than the traditional recipe calls for. And I also like adding other vegetables like zucchini and celery and onion and garlic (chopped fine) for the flavour. Then when I mix that all up with my rice, I also add a couple of 28 oz cans of diced tomatoe. And when the cabbage rolls are rolled and in the pot, I pour tomatoe juice in for the wet, instead of just salt water.
While I'm telling you all this, I might as well add that I make my perogies with old cheddar cheese, and grated parmesan cheese (nicely stinky) and fried diced onions, all mixed into the mashed potatoe before hand packaging it into two bite size servings with egg dough. To cook I do the traditional boil until they rise and stay there, but then I put them into a frying pan with more diced onions and fry it over a low heat setting, stirring occasionally until all the perogies are ready. The best pan for doing this is one of the high-sided wok frying pans.
My Dad's mother never spoke anything but Ukrainian her whole life, even though she was born in Canada in 1890. My Dad spoke some with her, but he mostly spoke English with a Ukrainian accent. By the time he died last year at 93 he didn't remember any Ukrainian at all. My Mom's family was of Polish decent from Saskatchewan (that's a prairie province in Canada). She could speak both Polish and Ukrainian. And she talked to my Dad's Mom even better in Ukrainian than some of Dad's brothers and sisters could. I grew up without speaking either language. I often asked my Mom to teach me when I was young, but she said it would be better if I learned it from someone who wouldn't make mistakes. So I still don't speak any Polish or Ukrainian, except for some really bad swear words that a friend taught me in college.