Botvinya
6 servings
15 minutes
Botvinya is an ancient Russian cold dish that is refreshing and nutritious, especially popular in summer. Its history roots in peasant cuisine traditions using seasonal ingredients. The base of botvinya consists of beet broth mixed with bread kvass, giving the dish a sour and refreshing taste. Crunchy cucumbers, radishes, fragrant dill, and green onions enhance the freshness while anchovies add zest. Traditionally served with sour cream and boiled eggs, it creates a rich and balanced flavor. This ideal dish for hot days quenches thirst and offers lightness.
1
Boil the beetroot in a large amount of water: three to four liters of liquid for one kilogram of beetroot. Squeeze the juice of two lemons into the broth and set the pot to cool.
- Beet: 1 kg
- Lemon: 2 pieces
2
Boil the eggs hard.
- Chicken egg: 6 pieces
3
Peel the beetroot and grate it. Peel the cucumbers and grate them just like the beetroot. Do the same with boiled eggs and radishes.
- Beet: 1 kg
- Cucumbers: 300 g
- Chicken egg: 6 pieces
- Radish: 300 g
4
Chop dill and green onions finely. Thinly slice beet leaves, ramsons, green onions, dill, and any other herbs available.
- Green onions: 300 g
- Dill: 150 g
- Beet tops: 300 g
- Wild garlic: 100 g
5
Mix vegetables, greens, and eggs, pour half with beet broth and kvass, stir, add crushed anchovy fillet, and season with salt and pepper if needed.
- Anchovies: 60 g
- Bread kvass: 1 l
- Salt: to taste
- Ground black pepper: to taste
6
In the plate, season with sour cream and — if there is an aesthetic and physiological need — add half or a quarter of a boiled egg to each plate. However, you will need to boil not six, as indicated in this recipe, but ten or even more, depending on appetite.
- Sour cream: 200 g
- Chicken egg: 6 pieces