When Larissa cooked the Borsch she used pork stock as a base, but Sacha translated that you can use any type of meat stock for this recipe. They tell me that the Ukrainians prefer to use a really rich fatty pork stock for their Borsch, but in Novosibrisk they like it a lot leaner. The meat stock is much better if it's made from large bones which are boiled in salted water for a long time, however when we made it we used a couple of big pork chops to make the stock. So there you go - there's a long version where you get all keen and make fancy stock over many hours, or you can make the speedy model with a few good sized chops boiled for just a couple of hours.

Sacha translated that you can vary the cooking time to make the texture of the cabbage to your liking. Some people cook it for a relatively short time so that the cabbage is still crunchy, but others cook it longer because they like soft cabbage.

Here's a picture of Sacha and Larissa with our pot of Borsch. I know it's the fuzziest photo in the world, but unfortunately I only took one, so it's all I have!

Ingredients
3-4 litres meat stock with a little meat left in (see note below)
2 cups shredded sauerkraut, roughly chopped so that the pieces aren't really long
1 small carrot, coarsely grated
1 medium beetroot, peeled and coarsely grated
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 large potatoes, chopped into about 1 inch long slim chips
1 tablespoon tomato puree(optional)
a little olive oil for frying

Method

Bring the stock to a simmer and add the sauerkraut. Leave this to simmer for about 30 to 45 minutes before adding anything else.

Heat a frying pan to medium heat with a little olive oil. Add the carrot, beetroot and onion and fry gently for about 5 minutes until it starts to soften. Add the tomato puree and continue to fry gently for another 3 to 5 minutes, stirring as required. Remove from heat when done.

When the sauerkraut is the right texture (soft or crunchy depending on what you like), add all remaining ingredients to the soup pot and simmer until the potato is tender. Serve with fresh bread and a little spoon of mayo in each bowl if you like. (I've found that the Russians are right into mayo - Larissa and Sacha put a small spoon of it into almost all of their soups, and they have a lot of soup).

Note on meat stock: As I've explained in the introductory text, you can use any type of meat stock, however we used pork stock when I made the soup with Larissa. If you've got the time, make the meat stock ahead of time using large bones with some meat and simmer them for 4-5 hours in salted water (just put enough salt to suit your taste). You will need to keep topping up the water from time to time. If you don't have stacks of time on your hands you can use a few good sized chops and simmer them for about 2 hours. For those of you with a pressure cooker, you can make the stock in about a third the normal cooking time! If you do end up using the big bones, remove them when the stock is finished.