Borscht Soup     羅 宋 湯

Every family household and restaurants in Hong Kong have their own version of this soup. Originated from Ukraine in Eastern Europe where they use beetroots transforming the soup into a red soup.  The Chinese liked the sourness from the tomatoes so they changed the variation of vegetables. Incorporated their choices of vegetables, excluded the beetroots making it quite sweet with the additions of carrots, different vegetables and some meats. Hence the name in Chinese “Lor Sung Tong”.  Never less this is a favourite family, hearty, tasty, nutritious soup that is easy to prepare and is liked by everyone.

Serves: 5-6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: Simmer 2 hours

Ingredients
2  1/2 Litres water
500 grams beef brisket, shin or ox tail
5 tomatoes
2 medium onions
3 carrots
2 sweet corn cobs
2 celery stalks
3 potatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 thick slice ginger
1  1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

• Bring a pot of water to boil on medium/ high heat. Once boiling, add the cut bite size meat, skim off any residues from the surface of the water. Add ginger and salt, simmer on a low heat for 1 hour.

• Cut tomatoes into quarters, add into a large bowl. Peel and cut carrots into bite size chunks, place into the large bowl. Peel and cut onions into quarters, add into bowl. Cut celery into bite size, peel potatoes and cut into bite size cubes, set aside.

• After an hour, add the vegetables and tomato paste into the soup and continue to simmer for a further hour. Serve.