Chef Juliana
Amalá de Xangô
You don't need mystery for this pot. You need okra, dendê, onion, dried shrimp, and the patience to stir until the quiabo gives up its own caldo.
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Sopa de Beterraba com Repolho
Created by
You think beet soup is foreign, difficult, or not for you. Wrong three times. It's vegetables, refogado, time, and one bright spoon of sour cream at the end.
Soups & Stews
Brazilian
Comfort Food
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
20 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield6 servings
You see a pot turning red and hear that little voice: isso não é pra mim. I know the voice. Mine used to appear every time an onion browned too fast and I pretended the stove had betrayed me. Anota aí: cozinhar não é dom, é um aprendizado.
This soup isn't here to replace the pê-efe. Rice, beans, something from the pan, something green, that's still the everyday plate that keeps a country itself. But some nights a gente needs to resolver o jantar with a pot of vegetables, a spoon, and no drama. Beterraba gives the body, repolho gives sweetness, potato makes the broth feel round, and the refogado does what it always does: starts the flavor honestly, without a packet pretending to be dinner.
The method is plain. Cook the onion until it softens, because raw onion tastes sharp and unfinished. Add garlic only until you smell it, because burnt garlic is bitter and proud of it. Simmer the beets until a fork slides in without a fight, because color means nothing if the vegetable is still hard. Finish with vinegar or lemon to wake up the sweetness, then sour cream if you want that cool, creamy edge.
This is comida de verdade in a soup bowl. Not mystique. Not a costume. Just a recipe that works for the person who thinks it won't.
Borscht is most strongly associated with Ukraine and neighboring Eastern European cuisines, where beet soup has many versions, some with meat, some vegetarian, some served hot and some cold. In Brazil, beet soup entered home kitchens through immigrant tables and ordinary adaptation, especially in cities where Eastern European families settled and cooked with what was available. This version does not pretend to own that tradition; it brings the beet-and-cabbage idea into a Brazilian home kitchen through refogado, plain measures, and the weeknight logic of making real food stretch.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
oil or olive oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves
minced
beets
Quantity
3 medium
peeled and grated or cut into small cubes
carrot
Quantity
1 medium
grated or cut into small cubes
potato
Quantity
1 medium
peeled and cut into small cubes
green cabbage
Quantity
3 cups
thinly sliced
tomato paste
Quantity
1 tablespoon
water or homemade vegetable broth
Quantity
6 cups
bay leaf
Quantity
1
salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
vinegar or lemon juice
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
sour cream
Quantity
1/2 cup
for serving
parsley or dill (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| oil or olive oil | 2 tablespoons |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| garlicminced | 3 cloves |
| beetspeeled and grated or cut into small cubes | 3 medium |
| carrotgrated or cut into small cubes | 1 medium |
| potatopeeled and cut into small cubes | 1 medium |
| green cabbagethinly sliced | 3 cups |
| tomato paste | 1 tablespoon |
| water or homemade vegetable broth | 6 cups |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| vinegar or lemon juice | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| sour creamfor serving | 1/2 cup |
| parsley or dill (optional)chopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 4-liter pot
- •Box grater or sharp knife
- •Wooden spoon
- •Ladle
Instructions
- 1
Build the refogado
Warm the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring now and then, until it goes soft and see-through, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute, just until you smell it. This is the base of the soup, so give it time; raw onion stays sharp, and burnt garlic turns bitter and follows you to the table.
No seasoning cube here. Salt, onion, garlic, bay leaf, and vegetables are enough when you let them do their job. - 2
Coax the color
Add the beets, carrot, potato, cabbage, and tomato paste. Stir for 4 to 5 minutes, until the cabbage starts to murchar and the beets stain everything deep red. This little sauté wakes up the vegetables before the water goes in; skip it and the soup tastes flatter, like the pot never really started.
- 3
Simmer until tender
Pour in the water or homemade broth, add the bay leaf, salt, and black pepper, and scrape the bottom of the pot with a spoon. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes. The soup is ready for the next step when the beet and potato cubes are tender enough for a fork to slide through without a fight. If they're still firm, keep cooking. The clock is not the boss of your pot.
- 4
Adjust the broth
Taste the broth. Add the vinegar or lemon juice and stir, then taste again. The acid should brighten the beet's sweetness, not make the soup sour. If the broth tastes dull, add a pinch more salt. If it tastes heavy, add a few more drops of vinegar or lemon. This is pegar ponto with your tongue, not guessing.
- 5
Serve with cream
Turn off the heat and pull out the bay leaf. Ladle the soup into bowls and top each one with a spoon of sour cream and parsley or dill if using. The cream should sit in a pale swirl over the red broth, cooling the sweetness and making the bowl feel complete. Serve with rice on the side if this is dinner, or with beans tomorrow if you're building the week like a person with sense.
Chef Tips
- •Buy beets when they're firm, heavy for their size, and cheap. If they're soft and wrinkled, cook something else today. I won't let a tired vegetable make you think the recipe failed.
- •Grating the beets makes this faster for a weeknight. Cubing them gives you a chunkier soup. Both work. The only crime is cutting them huge and then wondering why dinner is late.
- •Use water if that's what you have. Use homemade vegetable broth if you saved scraps and made some. Don't use a powdered cube and call it the same thing; that's salt in a little costume.
- •Sour cream is lovely here, but plain yogurt works in a pinch. It will taste tangier and thinner. That's the cost of the shortcut, and now you know.
- •This soup keeps well for 4 days in the fridge. The color gets deeper, the cabbage softens more, and lunch becomes very easy.
Advance Preparation
- •Chop or grate the vegetables up to 1 day ahead and refrigerate them in separate covered containers. Keep the beet covered well, because it stains like it has a personal mission.
- •The soup can be cooked up to 3 days ahead. Reheat gently and add the sour cream only in the bowl, not in the pot.
- •Freeze without sour cream for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat with a splash of water if the broth has tightened.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 390g)
Calories
150 calories
Total Fat
9 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
12 mg
Sodium
650 mg
Total Carbohydrates
15 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
3 g
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