Ukrainian Borshch (cabbage, beetroot & tomato soup)

When talking about Ukrainian cuisine, the borshch is the first dish to mention. It's the most widespread Ukrainian dish. It is cooked in each family in Ukraine, but each hostess cooks it her own special way. Here is the recipe of borshch as it's cooked in my family.

100g or 200g of meat with rib bones (prefferably beef)
1 big onion
1 beetroot
1 large or 2 small carrots
50g of pork fat
half a lemon
1-2 tbsp of tomato paste
3or 4 large potatoes
200g of cabbage
bay leaf
salt,pepper

Boil the meat for the stock. Chop the onion. Grate or shred the beetroot. Grate carrots. Melt some fat on a frying pan. Cut the pork fat into very small pieces and fry it until it becomes golden in colour. Add onions to the frying pan, fry it until they get golden. Add carrots, when they get soft, add beetroot. Sprinkle juice of half a lemon onto the mixture. Add tomato paste to the frying pan. Fry the mixture for a while. Add a litle stock, pepper, bay leaf. Set the heat to the minimum cover with a lid and simmer for a while.

Put the beef out of stock. Pour the stock into a big pot. Put into the pot the peeled potatoes, cut into big pieces.

Shred the cabbage. When the stock with potatoes boils put the cabbage into the pot. Add salt.

Separate the meat from the bones, and put it back to the pot. When the potatoes iare ready (i.e. soft, boiled), turn off the frying pan and put its contents into the pot. Add a bay leaf, black pepper. Turn off the heat.

When serving put some sour cream and crushed garlic into a plate.