HK Style Russian Borscht & Fresh Garlic Butter Toast

WELL HAROOOOO~ I'm FINALLY effing back with NEW recipes &.... A BRAND NEW CAMERA! Its my early X'mas & Bday present from Eggplant!! HEHEHE!! Happiest child EVAAA! I posted a picture of it in my random sh*t tab for whoever wants ta check it out..

ANYWAYS! For THIS recipe, its always been a fav of mine in CHA CHAN TENS......AKA Hong Kong style cafes. Authentic Russian Borscht calls for BEETS... that's what makes the soup RED... but beets to me is unappealing...& I've been too spoiled by the HK style. I use to make this with ketchup which I thought was what made the soup red but nonono...do NOT use ketchup. I always wondered why mine tasted funkier. BUT HAVE NO FEAR! Perfected recipe is HERE!...

Ze Ingredients..... (AGAIN I FORGOT to add butter for the garlic butter...)

You don't have to use Angus beef cubes... That was the cheapest package I could find...YA AM CHINESE! Next time tho, I'm going to try ox tail cuz I heard that sh*ts way tastier.

Ze Spices.....

Decided to separate the spices cuz it was kinda crammed with all the veggies.

First take out your le BOUEF out and place in a large bowl

Run your beef under cold water enough to submerge all the pieces

Let your beef bathe in ze water for 20 mins or so, this step allows the "blood water" to come out of the beef

While your beef is taking a bath, get a large stock pot and add 6-7 cups of water and bring to a boil. & yes.. I GOT A F*CKIN MANICURE! FINALLY! Aren't they festive? :]

While you're waiting for your water to boil, prepare all your veggies!

I only used half the cabbage, this was a fairly SMALL ass cabbage & I still felt there was still a bit too much in the soup.. so use 1/4 if you want less cabbage.

Once your water starts boiling, drain your cubes of the blood water

Toss in yo le bouef into it's boiling death

Add 2 cups of chicken stock into your pot, if you don't have chicken stock you could use beef stock

Let the murky water bring to a boil again on medium, cover with a lid and continue prepping your veggies

Chop your cabbage to chip sizes, removing the "heart"... aka the super hard part

Peel potato peel peel potato... (don't mind me.. this "peel banana" nursery rhyme is still stuck in my head)

Wash all your veggies well ! PESTICIDES nowadays!!

Cut your celery to bite size pieces

Cut your carrots into 4s towards the middle to fat end of the carrot so the pieces are almost all the same size

Same with your POTATOOOOOO

With the tomatoes I just sliced them into 4s because after boiling for 2 hours they will become mush anyways!

Slice your onions into 4s.........my nails look like FONG JAOS here... aka chicken feet dimsum wahahah

Now..back hand your garlic! ....also known as smash your garlic cloves with the back of your knife

Heat a skillet with a tablespoon or so with oil olive *MY PAN IS NOT DIRTY...Eggplant just scrubbed the sh*t out of it and now it became like this... professional series my ASS!*

Throw in your chopped onions & smashed garlic, saute until FRAGRANT only.. couple mins or so

Add your saute into the boiling broth, return the skillet to the flame and continue sauteing the next batch of veggies!

Saute your celery & carrot for just a couple mins also because they burn easy! Repeat step and add into the pot. This process is a workout for your arms.... working out and making dinner at the same time, how awesome

For the potatoes you want to get a nice hard skin around them so they are protected from falling apart in the boil process. Just fry them until they are a SLIGHTLY golden and again.. plop them into the soup!

Again with ze tomatoes

& just when you thought it would never end....THE CABBAGE !!!!!!! Now you don't have to follow the order of veggies I chose to stir fry in.... but do begin with garlic and onion so your oil is left with the fragrant smell of them for the rest of your veggies

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...~ ..... no not quite, we still need to add a few more bad boys to this concoction

5 GOLDEN RINGSSSS 4 CALLING BIRDS 3 BAY LEAVES ......... ok stfu I'm trying to get into the Christmas spirit.

Add 10-15 peppercorns... I actually stood there and counted 15... but then after I threw in like 5 more... for those who know me I freakin LOVE black pepper...like insanely. 

Now add 3 spoons of tomato paste! Here comes the red in our soup! It also matches my nails :] Do not worry if the soup is not super red atm, we still have those 3 plump tomatoes in there remember!

As you can see everything is still chunky, but do not fear.. everything will wilt after 2 hours of simmer. Bring your soup to a boil first after adding all the sh*t and then cover with a lid and turn it on low and let the yummyness simmer for 2 hours.

Take out a dab of butter for your garlic butter while your soup is simmering. Leave it at room temperature so it's easier to spread & work with when the time comes

AFTER AN EPISODE OF "THE GOOD WIFE" & 60 MINS LATER....

BAM! What did I tell ya.....everything's wilted!.....including my patience. Hahaha! The bright orange color is just simply fantastic and you could just imagine what my house smelt like...........a HK cafe I guess

Add a little sweetness into your soup, I added about 1 table spoon of sugar

Add 2 dashes of white pepper & SALT TO YOUR DESIRE! Some ppl like it bland as hospital food some ppl love it salty as hell. SO it all depends on YOUR taste buds :]

& for the tang in our borscht... squeeze half a juicy lemon right into ze soup.. MMMMM.....*DROOL*

NOW.....SOME people really like tabasco in their borscht... I'm MEHH about it... you could add 2 drops into it and it does make a difference.. this is completely optional.. if you have a bottle lying around, try it in your own bowl to see if you like it. Personally I prefer without. So.. taste test !

For our fresh garlic butter, please dice up some garlic!

Mix it into your softened room temp butter

Spread the goodness onto slices of french bread

Stick them into the oven either bake or broil, whichever you prefer.. baking takes long.. and my patience as ran out LOL

After 2-3 mins under broil... these smell delish! (I almost burnt them cuz i was FBing, do not try that at home kids) Now dish up your russian borscht...&...

BAM

 mMmMmMm.......be sure to make enough to share! OH & one last thing...

Since we only used half a lemon, I usually put the leftover lemon in a small bowl and stick it in my fridge. It acts as a natural deodorizer and its CHEAP! You can throw it out when its all dried up and looks like its beginning to get old!