Borshch is a Ukrainian beet soup. It could be described as a national soup of Ukraine. Filled with beets and other vegetables from a typical Ukrainian garden, it is a hearty soup which could be found on almost every dinner table. Here is one of more than 500 versions of borshch recipes.

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

Ingredients:
1/4 pound salt pork, diced
1 large leek, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 celery or parsley root (about 6 ounces), peeled and cut in thin strips
3 beet (about 1/2 pound), peeled and shredded
1/2 head cabbage (about 1/2 pound), thinly sliced
2 quarts water
1 1/2 pounds cooked meat such as kielbasa (Polish sausage), ham, beef, or pork, diced
1 can (8 ounces) whole tomatoes
1 c rye flour kvas
2 tb flour
1 ts salt
1/2 ts pepper
1 1/2 ts lemon juice or vinegar
1 c whipping cream or dairy sour cream horseradish (optional)

Fry salt pork until golden in a 5-quart kettle. Add leek and onion. Fry until onion is transparent. Add celery root, beets, cabbage, water, and meat. Cook until celery root is crisp tender; about 25 minutes. Add tomatoes and kvas, mix. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Make a smooth paste of butter and flour; stir into the simmering soup. Cook and stir until soup thickens. Add salt, pepper, and lemon juice; mix. To serve, spoon a small amount of cream and horseradish into each bowl. Ladle hot soup into bowl and stir to blend with the cream and horseradish.

Potato pancakes

The most popular among the Ukrainians are traditional deruny, thick pancakes, made from shredded potatoes. This a staple in Ukrainian homes and these pancakes will store well in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Your sweet Anastasia Web Polina from Kiev as a true daughter of Ukrainian people will feed you with the best deruny you've ever had!

Ingredients:
2 lbs of potatoes
2 eggs
black of pepper
2 tbsp of oil
a glass of sour cream

Grate the peeled potatoes. Add eggs, salt and pepper. Stir thoroughly (better with wooden spoon). Put with the spoon small pancakes on the hot frying pan with oil. Fry both sides till pancakes are medium brown. Deruny are served with sour cream. Sometimes they serve as a garnish for the meat dishes.

Cheese tarts

Vatrushky are savory open tarts with cottage cheese. It's a very common Ukrainian snack. Every Ukrainian family has its own, handed down from generation to generation the recipe of vatrushky. They vary greatly but one thing is for sure, the Ukrainians put all their soul into them; no other dish reflects Ukrainian national type better than vatrushky.

Ask your Anastasia Web Polina from Kiev to make vatrushky for you and your friends!

Ingredients:
Dough:
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 oz yeast
2 tb sugar
1/2 tb salt
5 tb butter

Filling:
2 cups cottage cheese
3 tb sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tb sour cream
2 tb butter
1 tb flour
grated lemon peel

Mix yeast, sugar, 1 teaspoon of flour in warm milk. Let it rise for 15-20 minutes. Add all the milk and half the flour, mix, let it rise again. When it has risen, add the rest of the flour, salt, butter and mix until it is smooth and elastic.
Let the dough rise once more. Form small buns, put them on a greased baking sheet leaving 2 inches space between them, let rise for 10-15 minutes. Make depressions in the buns with the bottom of a glass. Smear the brims with whisked egg; fill the depression with the filling. Filling:
Rub the cottage cheese through a strainer; add melted butter, grated lemon peel, sour cream, flour, egg yolks whisked with sugar. Mix it well (also, you can stuff vatrushki with a jam, with cranberries minced with sugar, black cherries, apples, etc.) Bake at 200-220� until lightly browne.