I’ve seen many Borscht recipes and they all had a long list of ingredients. This is the recipe from my polish grandma, may she rest in peace. We traditionally make this dinner every Christmas, the way she used to.

Note: This is a quick version. I used red beets in jars, unlike my grandma who prepared fresh ones.
This version is simple, very simple. But in my eyes, incredibly good.

Sorry for the crappy picture. It’s the only one I took of a filled plate, because we were all eager to dig in!

Ingredients | Borscht
2 jars red beet
2 1/2 cups water
3 medium onions, quartered
4 or more cloves of garlic (just throw in the whole cloves)
bay leaves, about a small handful
pimento, also a small handful
salt and pepper, to taste
soy creamer

Ingredients | Pierogi
for the dough:
1 pound all-purpose flour
1 cup water

for the stuffing:
2 cans whole champignons
2-3 medium onions, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

start with the stuffing:
1. cut the onions
2. cut the mushrooms into small pieces
3. heat up a pan with a little canola oil, add onions and mushrooms
4. on low/medium heat turn the mixture occasionally until the champignons are done
5. add salt and pepper to taste and set aside

now to the Borscht:
6. empty the two jars into a pot (including the liquid) and add about 2 1/2 cups water
7. with a knife, cut the beet slices into smaller pieces (or if you have red beet globes I recommend you to grate them, tastes awesome!)
8. bring to a light boil, throw in the quartered onions, the cloves of garlic, bay leaves and piment
9. cover up and let stand on very low heat

prepare the dough:
10. in a bowl, mix flour with 1 cup water (use less first to prevent using too much or you’ll end up adding more flour, then more water, then more flour again…) and knead until the consistence is right (very doughy)
11. spread a thin layer of flour on a clean cutting board(to prevent the dough from sticking to it) roll dough until it’s about 0.2 inches high
12. with a glass (or anything round with a diameter of 4-5 inches) cut out dough circles
13. get another flour layered board to place the filled Pierogis on
14. take a cut out circle, stretch it a little, take a teaspoon of the mushroom mixture and place it in the middle of the dough circle
15. carefully fold it and press the rims together (you can use a fork to do that, but using your fingers is just as fine)
16. place it on the doughy board and continue filling the doughy circles with the mushroom stuffing
17. in a large pot bring water to boil, add salt and about 1/4 cup canola oil (the Pierogi will stick together like crazy otherwise, but you can also leave out the oil and add lots and lots of soy margarine when they are done)
18. put your stuffed Pierogis in the pot and wait until they come to the surface, wait for about a minute and take them out

back to the Borscht:
19. add salt and pepper to taste
20. add 1/2 cup soy creamer (or more, depends on how creamy you like it), add more water if neccessary (last night I ended up adding some more water and soy creamer to my plate because the taste of vinegar was a little too strong)

Et voilà! That’s it, you’re done! Enjoy!

I know I did. I think I refilled my plate 3 or 4 times. All in all I consumed about 12 Pierogis maybe. I was so full, but satisfied to no end.
Ha ha, my dad and I totally fought over the Borscht and the last Pierogis. I was like „Now I finally know what my sister feels like on Christmas Eve… the fear of not getting one’s comeuppance.“ Because she always inhales Pierogis within a matter of minutes