Green Borscht with Spinach and Tofu

Have you ever heard of green borscht, the fair easy going sister of  the traditional red one? Green borscht is quite popular in Ukraine during summer time and was traditionally make with sorrel leaves  that landed the soup its delightful sour notes (hence the summer time popularity when sorrel is readily available).

Lacking sorrel, spinach and a bit of white vinegar do the trick nicely, and tofu adds a bit of extra nutrition and texture. Hope your family will enjoy it as much as mine does 🙂

The ingredients (8-10 servings):

Not too many ingredients, which is always a nice thing

• 3 chicken breasts, whole
• 9 cups water
• 3-4 medium potatoes, cubed
• 2 small or 1 medium carrots, diced
• 1/2 cup rice
• 1/2 package medium firm tofu, cubed
• 3 handfuls spinach, shredded
• 2-3 tbsp white vinegar
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 4-5 hard boiled eggs cut in half to serve
• Fresh sour cream to serve (optional)

The steps:

1. Put chicken breasts in a medium pot and add 9 cups of water
2. Bring to a boil and cook on a medium heat for 35 minutes
3. Take the chicken out and let it cool off
4. Put potatoes, carrots, tofu and rice into the broth, bring back to boil and cook for 20 minutes
5. While the vegetables are cooking, remove bones and skin from the chicken breasts and cut the meat into bite size pieces
6. Put cut up chicken and spinach into the broth
7. Add vinegar
8. Season with salt and pepper
9. Cook for 20 minutes
10. Adjust seasoning if needed (you may find that you prefer it more sour, so add a bit more vinegar)
11. Serve with a half of hard boiled egg and a dollop of sour cream.