The Russians have a soup meal at least once a day. Schi, borsch, rassolnik, botvinia, ukha, okroshka and solianka has been a peculiarity of Russia since ancient times. Soups can be made on meat, fish, mushroom, vegetables or milk stocks.

How about a plate of Russian borstch? Nothing can warm your heart and stomach better than this traditional soup meal.
Ask Anastasia Web Natalia to make it for you!

Ingredients:
3/1/2 c canned tomatoes
5 or 6 med. size potatoes cut in halves
1 large carrot cut fine
1 small peeled beet
black pepper & salt to taste
1 small onion chopped butter
4 c shredded cabbage
¾ c sweet cream
½ c fresh green pepper chopped
2 tb fresh or dried dill
1 celery chopped fine
2/1/2 qts water
1/1/2 c diced potatoes

Put water to boil in large kettle. Add 1/2 c canned tomatoes. Drop in boiling water 5 or 6 med. size potatoes, chopped carrot and the beet. Add 3 tb butter in frying pan. When melted add chopped onion, cook tender but do not brown. Add 3 c canned tomatoes and let simmer with onion and butter until a thick sauce. Into a separate frying pan put 2-3 tb butter to melt. Add 2 c shredded cabbage and fry. Cook tender but do not brown. Shred another 2 c to add later to the borstch. When potatoes are tender remove them to a bowl. Add 2 tb butter, mash well, then add ? c sweet cream and mix well and set aside.
Add 1/1/2 c diced potatoes to the stock and the remainder of the shredded cabbage. When diced potatoes are tender, add the onion-tomato-sauce, then add the cooked cabbage, and the potato-cream mixture. Add 3 tb butter to the borstch. Stir well.
Add fresh chopped fine green pepper. Add 3 tb fresh or dried dill. Remove beet, one hour later after borstch is ready.
Borstch is ready to serve. Serve with chopped garlic in your soup bowl and a fresh piece of bread and butter. Yummy, enjoy...

Kasha is a traditional Russian dish. Kashas are made from various groats with meat, fish, liver, mushrooms, and onion. It was impossible to imagine Russian cuisine without kasha, there is a proverb: "You can't feed a Russian without a kasha".
Try real Russian kasha! It is very healthy and nutritious food.

Anastasia Web Natalia from Moscow will surely do a first-class job making this traditional Russian meal for you.

Ingredients:
3 glasses (3 1/2 cups) water
1.5 glasses (1 3/4 cups) buckwheat
6 to 7 tb vegetable oil

Sort out the buckwheat, sift flour dust, pour in water, close by a cover and boil over high heat. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat twice and keep boiling for 10 minutes until the kasha is getting thick, then turn down the heat again and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes until the water evaporates completely. Take the kasha from the heat and put under a warm cloth for 15 minutes. Put diced lard on a frying-pan and sauté until golden-brown melting the entire lard down. Pour the ready kasha with crackling.

Traditional Russian beverages are kvas, sbiten, med, mors, voditsa and many others.
In the good old times when Soviet people had no idea about Coca-cola, they drank refreshing and delicious home-made kvas.
Anastasia Web Natalia from Moscow can give you the picture of what it tasted like.

Ingredients:
1 cup boiling water
1 cup rye flour
1 ts sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 pkg dry granular yeast (7g)
4 quarts boiled water, cooled to lukewarm

Pour boiling water over the flour and stir briskly until smooth. Cool to lukewarm. Dissolve the sugar in the lukewarm water, sprinkle the yeast over it, and let stand for 10 minutes. Combine the cooled batter, cover and let it rise until light and double in bulk. Stir in 4 quarts of boiled water, cooled to lukewarm. Cover and let it stand in a warm place for 3-4 days. When liquid is clear and tastes mildly sour, pour it off carefully with disturbing the sediment. Cover and keep in the refrigerator.