Ukrainian · soup

Zelenyi Borshch (Green Sorrel Borshch with Egg)

Name: Zelenyi Borshch (Green Sorrel Borshch with Egg)
Prep time: 1 h 49 min
Total time: 1 h 49 min
Cuisine: Ukrainian
Ingredients: pork ribs — 700 g; water — 2500 g; potatoes — 500 g; sorrel — 250 g; onion — 110 g; carrot — 60 g; sunflower oil — 41 g; eggs — 400 g; dill — 20 g; scallion greens — 20 g; sour cream — 150 g; salt — 7 g; ground black pepper — 3 g; bay leaf — 1 g

Zelenyi Borshch (Green Sorrel Borshch with Egg) reads umami 5.8, richness 5.3 and sourness 4.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Ukrainian soup, about 1 hr 49 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 6.4 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.1 / 10
Sour & Bright — 4.8 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 3.4 / 10
Rich & Fat — 5.7 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 4.0 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 5.8 · Richness 5.3 · Sourness 4.5 · Salinity 3.8 · Herbaceous 3.5 · Allium 3.0 · Smoke 3.0 · Sweetness 2.9 · Funk & Ferment 2.4 · Earthy 1.7 · Warm Spice 1.3 · Nutty 1.2 · Bitterness 1.1 · Citrus 1.0 · Fruity 0.8 · Floral 0.8 · Heat 0.8

What's in it (14)

pork ribs — 700 g
water — 2500 g
potatoes — 500 g
sorrel — 250 g
onion — 110 g
carrot — 60 g
sunflower oil — 41 g
eggs — 400 g
dill — 20 g
scallion greens — 20 g
sour cream — 150 g
salt — 7 g
ground black pepper — 3 g
bay leaf — 1 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 49 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 46.6 kcal, 4.7 g protein, 2.2 g fat, 1.9 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

Cover the ribs with the water, add the bay, bring to a boil and skim carefully. Simmer 1 hour 15 minutes until the meat is falling off the bone. Lift the ribs out, shred the meat and return it.
In a frying pan, cook the onion and grated carrot in the sunflower oil over medium heat for 8 minutes until soft and sweet. This zazharka is the flavour base of nearly every Ukrainian soup and it is worth the extra pan.
Add the potatoes to the broth and simmer 12 minutes, until they yield to a knife.
Scrape the zazharka into the pot and stir it through.
Now the sorrel. Add it all at once and cook exactly 2 minutes. Sorrel goes from bright green to olive drab in about three, and the whole character of the soup, the sharp green acidity that means no vinegar and no borshch beets are needed, lives in that window.
Season with the salt and pepper. Taste: if your sorrel was young it may need a squeeze more acidity, and a second handful of raw shredded sorrel stirred in off the heat is the fix.
Put a quartered hard-boiled egg in each bowl, ladle the soup over, and finish with dill, spring onion and a heavy spoon of smetana. Green borshch is the spring member of the borshch family, made when sorrel comes up before anything else does; the red beet borshch is its winter counterpart, not its correct version.
Substitutions: full-fat sour cream can stand in for the smetana.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Kielbasa and Cabbage Stew — Eastern European
Kapuśniak (Cabbage Soup) — Polish
Bulbianaja Babka (Baked Grated Potato and Bacon Pudding) — Belarusian
Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with Ketchup Glaze — American
Smoked Sausage and Peppers Skillet — Southern

Keep reading: what umami, richness, sourness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.