Food Friday - Laolao’s best borscht

Ingredients

• 2 or 3 pork hocks
• a bunch of fresh dill (if you get some with the seedheads on it has great flavour)
• 2-3 red chilli peppers
• ½ tsp black peppercorns
• 3-4 potatoes, peeled & cubed
• 1 large onion, peeled & chopped into chunks
• 1 small or ½ large head cabbage, cut into bite-size chunks
• 1 large can stewed tomatoes (or 3-4 fresh tomatoes, peeled)

Directions

1. Place the pork hocks into a large pot. Fill nearly to the top with water. Add dill, chilli peppers and peppercorns. Bring to a boill, then reduce heat and simmer for about 2 hours, until pork hocks are well done and soup is flavourful
2. Remove from heat. Remove pork hocks from broth. Separate meat from bones, skin and fat. Set the meat aside; discard the bones. (You can serve the skin and fat, with vinegar on the side, to anybody in your family who likes that kind of food. In our family, it’s Laoye, Laolao and Mustang. If your family has so such person, discard as well!!) Let broth cool until the fat has solidified on the surface. (You might need to put it in the fridge, or in another cold place, to accomplish this, if you're making it on a hot day - not that we'll many of those for a while!)
3. Skim fat off the surface and discard. Return meat to the broth. Add chopped onion, potato & cabbage. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are done (15-20 minutes).
4. Add tomatoes and heat thoroughly.
5. Serve with sour cream in the soup, and buns & cheese on the side.

I am going to try making “Food Friday” a regular item on this blog. To help keep my posting regular and all!!

(Sorry, Justice, this borscht has no beets!! You could probably add beets if you wanted, though it would change the flavour. But check back next Friday for something you can do with part of the beets!)