Soup for Sally: Borscht

I'll admit, I felt a little out of my element on this one. I adore all things containing beets and borscht is easily one of the first things I think of when I think of beets. My friend, Esther, makes the best borscht I have ever tasted, but I've always struggled with my love of it because it features beef almost as prominently as those magenta-hued taproots. Combine this love of borscht with an abundance of beets and a strong desire to keep cooking veg meals, the quest for vegetarian borscht was on!

I had my parameters pretty clear in my mind: I wanted something quick and/or simple that relied more on the strength of its veggies rather than a lot of grain/bean/legume filler. Not that I don't love my grains/beans/legumes - quite the contrary, as this blog will attest - I just didn't want them in the borscht, if they could be circumvented. Along those lines, I wanted the vegetables involved to stand out, for it to be pretty clear what each of them was. Several web searches yielded promising results, but nothing was quite what I was looking for. One recipe called for grating the beets before cooking them, which seemed a little odd at first, but on second thought I might give it a try if I make the soup again. Others called for ample additions of beans or lentils, something I'd already decided I didn't want. And so it was after about 45 minutes of interesting but ulitmately unsatisfying searching that my eyes began to wander in the direction of my slow-cooker (side-note: I need to come up with a name for her - it's definitely a "her"). And I was at it again, chop and toss and set on high while I scampered off to work (the midnight shift, bleargh).

I was happy enough with the results, but next time I might take a different approach. I had debated roasting the veggies before adding them to the slow-cooker, but was afraid they might fall apart completely (over-cooked beets = ewwww). Looking back, they probably would have been fine as long as the slow-cooker was on Low instead of High for those eight hours. That said, I let the raw veggies cook longer than eight hours altogether to make sure the beets were done. In the process, they lost all of their color and the soup itself took on a strange reddish-orange color. But it tasted great, so I'm not too concerned :)

Borscht for a Slow-cooker

1/4 head of cabbage, shredded
3-4 medium beets, peeled and cut in 1-inch cubes
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch cubes
2-3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small sticks
1 large onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 bay leaves
1 28-oz can crushed/diced tomatoes
1/2-3/4 cup nutritional yeast
dried thyme
1 teaspoon dill seed, ground
1/2 teaspoon caraway seed, ground
2-3 Tablespoons liquid aminos/tamari/soy sauce
2 Tablespoons miso paste
flavored vinegar to taste (balsamic, red wine, cider)
salt and pepper to taste
water

To top: lemon juice, (vegan) sour cream, fresh dill weed

Combine everything in a slow-cooker and add enough water to cover. Set on high and check after six hours, continue cooking until all veggies are tender. Serve hot or cold with a dollop of (vegan) sour cream, a splash of lemon juice and fresh dill weed.