Vinegar Soup
According to Wikipedia, borscht is a soup that originated in Ukraine. Not having visited that country, however, my first encounter with the dish was here in Hong Kong. I have eaten it a few times as a soup course before the rest of a set dinner at local, Western-inspired restaurants. And, though I expected it might be unpalatable, I have always enjoyed it very much.
We have now entered the wintry season here, and the falling temperatures make my tile-floored, many-windowed apartment pretty chilly, especially with no central heating. So, I decided that the time was right to make soup, specifically borscht. I also thought I better use up my potatoes and carrots, as I will be winging my way stateside next week.
I opted to make a vegetarian version of the soup, just because I have become very accustomed to cooking sans meat. I modeled my own soup on this recipe from Food Network. I say modeled because, really, mine is quite a loose interpretation of this one.
For some reason, I didn't want to use mushrooms in my soup. Then, I've never seen beets or parsnips for sale in my supermarket, and I decided not to go on a quest for any. Because I wasn't following the recipe too much, I also didn't read it thoroughly, and that was a mistake.
Consequently, I added the apple cider vinegar much too soon, which resulted in a very tart and tangy soup! My roommate complained that the kitchen made her eyes water as well. I have been adding more water and tomato paste, trying to boil off the potent flavor, but it hasn't completely worked. I guess cooking can't always be a great success.
We have now entered the wintry season here, and the falling temperatures make my tile-floored, many-windowed apartment pretty chilly, especially with no central heating. So, I decided that the time was right to make soup, specifically borscht. I also thought I better use up my potatoes and carrots, as I will be winging my way stateside next week.
I opted to make a vegetarian version of the soup, just because I have become very accustomed to cooking sans meat. I modeled my own soup on this recipe from Food Network. I say modeled because, really, mine is quite a loose interpretation of this one.
For some reason, I didn't want to use mushrooms in my soup. Then, I've never seen beets or parsnips for sale in my supermarket, and I decided not to go on a quest for any. Because I wasn't following the recipe too much, I also didn't read it thoroughly, and that was a mistake.
Consequently, I added the apple cider vinegar much too soon, which resulted in a very tart and tangy soup! My roommate complained that the kitchen made her eyes water as well. I have been adding more water and tomato paste, trying to boil off the potent flavor, but it hasn't completely worked. I guess cooking can't always be a great success.
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