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 Lidia 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...

Preserving vegetables and fruits is an ancient Russian tradition and is still very popular. Nothing can compare with home-made pickled mushrooms and cucumbers. And who never tried grandmother's gooseberry preserve has lost a truly delicious joy of life!
You can ask your Anastasia Web Lidia from Sochi to make salted mushrooms for you! We are sure she has stored up some old grandmother's recipes.

Ingredients:
11 1/4 lb edible lamellar mushrooms
1 cup salt
spices and condiments:
leaf of black currant, leaf of horse-radish, garlic, pepper, dill, sweet pepper, cloves
(do not add spices when salting saffron milk-caps)

Sort out the mushrooms, wash thoroughly, soak for 2 to 3 days in cold water changing it many times and keeping the mushrooms in a cold room. Place the soaked mushrooms into a prepared wooden or glass vessel in rows, with their stems up, interspersing them with condiments, spices and salt in the proportion of 4% to the mass of the mushrooms. Put a round wooden cover and load over them. Milk agarics and coral milky caps can be salted together interspersing them with salt and chopped white onions.

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 Lidia from Sochi 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.