Beet and Orange Soup

This is a twist of a traditional Ukranian soup - borscht - which is also popular in many Eastern and Central European countries. You can read up here for some interesting variations and way of preparing borscht in different countries. Traditionalists may frown at me given borscht is usually served during winter. At this time of the year in Bangkok, not only there is no rain, but I'd be lucky if I manged to take a 5 minutes walk without having to sweat like a pig. I digress.

There are many beetroot soup recipes out there. The recipe that I followed suggests serving the soup with sour cream and chopped chives. Another recipe uses frozen yogurt and chive. I thought the latter sounded cool but I liked the idea of sour cream. So I froze up sour cream and chives instead of yogurt.

So this must have been the 3rd attempt to force-feed Adrian with beetroot. The soup has a beautiful intense ruby-red color. How can anyone not fall in love with it? I'm not sure if Adrian approved of the soup. He was more curious about the ice-cream looking thing than the obvious presence of beetroots. At least he didn't complain. Actually he did better: he finished the his serving of the soup.

Ingredients:

• 3 small beetroots, washed
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon rosemary, chopped
• sea salt and ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
  
• Juice of 1 orange
• 2 cups miso soup
  
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/2 cup sour cream (lemon juice + cream)
  
• Chives, chopped

1. Mix sour cream with chopped spring onions. Spoon the mixture over ice-cube tray. Freeze till needed.
   
2. Bring a pot of water and beetroots to boil for about 60 minutes; until beetroots are fork tender. Remove and let cool. Peel off the skin and chop roughly.
   
3. Saute onion with a generous pinch of sea salt. Add garlic, rosemary and black pepper. Continue to saute for another 10 minutes over low heat.
4. Pour in balsamic vinegar, orange juice, miso soup, orange zest and chopped beetroots. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
   
5. Process with a blender till smooth and creamy. Separate into two serving bowls. Serve with frozen sour cream.