Bobba Sher’s Beetroot Soup

Great

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Step 1: Make a chicken soup with vegetables cut into large chunks (can use: carrots, potatoes, butternut, leeks, onions, celery). Use 9+Lt pot to make about 7lt chicken soup After boil off etc. It should be a fully seasoned, ready to eat chicken soup, not just an unseasoned broth. Strain to remove chicken and vegetables.

Step 2

Step 2: Make meat balls: 1 kg mince. 1 tablespoon matza meal (can be substituted with potato flour for non-gebrokts). 1 medium onion, grated (use small holes of grater). 1 teaspoon chicken stock powder. 1 tomato, grated (use small holes of grater). 1 granny smith apple, peeled and grated (use small holes of grater). Sprinkle of pepper, ginger, salt, paprika (Bobba Elsie’s recipe originally used garlic salt, but Mom never made it with garlic salt). ½ cup cold water (or bit less). Mix above well and roll into small balls (may have to add matza meal to get right consistency – i.e. slightly firm and not sticky).

Step 3

Step 3: Use 20 beetroots (and up to about 22 beetroots, each ladle should have about 1⁄8 - ¼ grated beetroot and 20 beetroots usually is enough to achieve that). Boil whole unpeeled beetroots. Peel when soft. Grate when cool (use large holes of grater). Keep beetroot juice left in pot in case soup needs topping up (for colour, additional liquid etc.). (Can use store bought ready cooked beetroots, if available)

Step 4

Step 4: Do a meat ball boiling test by dropping a meat ball in boiling water to check it doesn't fall apart. Boil meat balls in chicken broth - about 40 minutes. Let chicken broth cool (ideally in fridge overnight) and remove fat (easiest to do the skimming with a metal sieve).

Step 5

Step 5: Add grated beetroot to soup when soup is cool/cold (don’t want to add to boiling soup as it will drain the beetroots of their colour/taste). Ladle some of the soup into a separate pot/pan (“Side Pot”) and heat it up, so that the sugar can dissolve in it and be re-added to Main Soup in next step without needing to heat up Main Soup. Add lemon juice (start with juice of 1 lemon) to Side Pot. Add sugar (start with 2 tablespoons) to Side Pot. Stir Side Pot so sugar is dissolved and then pour mixture into Main Soup and stir and taste. Repeat previous steps and keep adjusting until taste is right (should be tart and sweet)

Step 6

Step 6: Beat yolks of 2 eggs Ladle a bit of the soup into a Side Pot and make sure it is more or less cold before next step (so doesn’t curdle eggs). Add a bit of the soup from the cool/cold Side Pot to the beaten egg slowly Pour mixture into Main Soup and stir.

Step 7

Step 7: make large matza balls and add to individual soup bowls when serving.