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Green Borscht in a Multicooker
Green borscht in a multicooker is a spring soup made from fresh sorrel, when the first young leaves push up through the garden after a long winter. The sour, lemony tang of sorrel marries beautifully with rich beef broth, sweet root vegetables, and a touch of pickled beet kvass for color and depth. Cooking the dish in a multicooker locks in flavor and aroma, freeing up the cook to do other things while the soup quietly does its work. Topped with sour cream, fresh dill, and a chopped boiled egg, it is the green-tinged comfort that announces spring has arrived.
Ingredients
Show ingredients
- beef (hill) – 800 g;
- potatoes – 2-3 medium;
- carrot – 1 pcs;
- sorrel – 1-2 bunches (350 g);
- beet – 1 pcs (fresh or fermented if desired);
- green onion – 1 bunch (5-6 stems);
- parsley – 3-4 sprigs;
- celery – a little if desired;
- water – 2 l;
- beet kvass – ½ cup;
- egg – 1 pcs (boiled);
- sour cream – 1 tbsp;
- salt, pepper – to taste.
Preparation
- In green borscht with fresh sorrel, pickled beets are often added, creating a very pleasant combination of flavors. Beets and beet kvass are rich in vitamins, which further enhance the dish’s health benefits. Pickled beets can be bought at the market, but they are better prepared at home. Place peeled and halved beets in a jar, fill with cold water, and let ferment.
- After five or six days, the beets are ready. They can be stored in the jar in the refrigerator for several weeks, becoming more sour and flavorful with time as the lacto-fermentation continues slowly in the cold.
- Cut the beets into strips. Strips disperse evenly through the borscht and release color gradually rather than all at once, giving the soup its characteristic pinkish hue without overwhelming green tone of the sorrel.
- Sort the sorrel, removing any poor-quality leaves. Place the greens in a bowl and cover with cold water, letting them sit for a minute or two. Do not drain the water; instead, carefully lift the sorrel out and place it in a colander. Sand on the leaves settles to the bottom and stays in the bowl. If we drained the water, the sand would land back on the leaves.
- Chop the prepared sorrel leaves thinly. Thin shreds release flavor faster and integrate seamlessly with the broth, while keeping the texture light and silky rather than chewy or fibrous.
- Cut the potatoes into medium cubes. Uniform sizing ensures all pieces cook through at the same rate, and medium cubes hold their shape well during the multicooker cooking cycle.
- For the borscht, you will also need a medium carrot, a few sprigs of parsley, and just a little celery; you can take a stalk or part of the root vegetable. The aromatic trio brings depth and balance to the broth alongside the bright sorrel.
- Finely chop the greens, and cut the carrot into strips. Matchstick carrot strips cook quickly and look attractive in the bowl, while the chopped herbs scatter their flavor throughout the broth.
- Finely chop a small bunch of green onions. Green onion adds a fresh, mild bite and a touch of color that brightens the finished bowl, especially when sprinkled over the top at serving time.
- Meat is essential for borscht. It can be pork ribs or a piece of beef. In our version, it is a hill cut of beef. Wash the meat and cut it into portion-sized pieces ready for the multicooker pot.
- Place all the prepared ingredients into the multicooker pot and cover with warm water. For flavor, add half a glass of beet kvass. Set the cooking mode for ten to fifteen minutes, let the dish boil, and skim off the foam with a slotted spoon. Then salt the borscht and securely close the lid.
- Cook the borscht with the valve closed for forty minutes. After the signal, turn off the multicooker, but do not open the lid yet; let the dish steep for ten to fifteen minutes until the pressure equalizes. The fresh and incredibly aromatic green borscht with sorrel in the multicooker is now ready.
- Green borscht is served with an egg. Many hostesses, when cooking such borscht on the stove, add a raw egg directly to the pot — whisked separately and poured in a thin stream five minutes before the end. Since we cooked in a multicooker with the lid closed, this option does not work for us. A boiled egg is finely chopped and added directly to the bowl when serving.
- Pour the borscht into bowls, serve with sour cream and greens. Salt and spices should be on the table for guests to adjust to taste. Young nettles are sometimes added to borscht with sorrel for extra health benefits, though not everyone enjoys them in the bowl.
Tips and Tricks
Tip 1. Add the sorrel last, off the heat if possible. Sorrel loses its bright green color and turns olive-brown when cooked too long. The vibrant green of fresh sorrel can be preserved by stirring it in just before serving, allowing the residual heat to wilt it gently. Multicooker cooking does dull the color slightly, but the flavor remains excellent and the soup still announces spring with every spoonful.
Tip 2. Make beet kvass at home for the best flavor. Store-bought versions exist but rarely match the depth of homemade kvass. The orig recipe’s explanation in step one shows the simple two-ingredient method. Use it not just for borscht but also for marinades and dressings throughout the spring season — or freeze sorrel to enjoy this soup year-round.
Tip 3. Use young, tender sorrel rather than mature leaves. Young leaves are bright green, soft, and intensely lemony. Older leaves turn fibrous and bitter, with thicker veins that need stripping out. Spring and early summer are the prime sorrel season; later in the year, frozen or preserved sorrel works better than tough garden leaves that have already gone to seed.
Tip 4. Always serve with a chopped hard-boiled egg and generous sour cream. The egg adds protein and visual contrast against the green broth, while sour cream balances the sour bite of the sorrel and beet kvass. A slice of dark homemade bread on the side completes the traditional Eastern European spring lunch in the most satisfying way possible.
FAQ
What if I cannot find fresh sorrel?
Frozen sorrel works almost identically — it is sold in many Eastern European markets and freezes its bright lemony flavor very well. Spinach with a generous squeeze of lemon juice is a passable substitute that approximates the color but not the deep tang of true sorrel. Some specialty stores carry sorrel puree in jars; use about half the volume since it is more concentrated. The fresh leaves are always best when in season.
Can I make this borscht without a multicooker?
Absolutely. Cook the meat in 2 liters of water for 60-90 minutes until tender, then add the vegetables in stages: potatoes first for 10 minutes, then carrot and beet kvass for another 10, then the sorrel right at the end. Total stovetop cooking time is about 90 minutes. The flavor is just as good, though you lose the convenience of the multicooker’s set-and-forget operation.
Is green borscht traditionally served hot or cold?
Both versions exist. Hot green borscht is most common in spring and early summer when the weather is still cool. As the season warms, many cooks serve the same soup chilled, like a cold cucumber soup or okroshka. Cold green borscht with sour cream and ice is wonderfully refreshing on a hot summer day. The recipe and ingredients stay the same; just chill thoroughly and add a few ice cubes to each bowl.
Can I freeze green borscht?
The broth and meat freeze well for up to three months, but the sorrel turns mushy after thawing. Best practice: freeze the borscht without the sorrel, then add fresh or freshly thawed sorrel when reheating. Potatoes also turn slightly grainy after freezing, so consider freezing only the broth-and-meat base and cooking fresh potatoes when reheating. Thaw overnight in the fridge before warming gently on the stove.
