Bessarabskyi Borshch (бессарабський борщ, fish borshch)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •A big modern stockpot, 5 to 6 litres
• •A wide frying pan for setting the fish and making the zasmazhka
• •A box grater for tomatoes, carrot, and beet
• •A fine sieve for straining fish broth

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the fish

   Cut the fish into pieces large enough that each serving gets one. Salt both sides and leave them on a plate while you start the broth; the salt firms the flesh and seasons the bone. If you have heads or frames, remove the gills because they make broth bitter.

2. 2

   Make the broth

   Put the fish heads or frames in a big pot with the cold water, halved onion, chunked carrot, bay leaves, peppercorns, and dill stems. Bring it up slowly and skim the foam as it gathers. Keep it at the smallest tremble, not a hard boil, until the broth smells clean, sweet, and fish-rich, then strain it. If you're using bought stock, warm it with the same aromatics and dill stems so it tastes like it came from your kitchen.

   Fish stock turns rough if bullied. Let it murmur. Aunt Nadia would have called this "until it sounds right," and she would have meant the quiet edge of a simmer.
3. 3

   Fry the catch

   Pat the salted fish pieces dry. Dust them lightly with flour or cornmeal if you want extra hold, shaking off anything loose. Heat three tablespoons of sunflower oil in a wide pan until it shines, then fry the fish in one layer until the edges are golden and the surface is set. The middle should still be underdone. Lift the pieces out gently and keep them nearby.

   This is the step that decides the dish. Frying sets the fish so it can meet the tomato broth without falling apart into scraps.
4. 4

   Simmer the vegetables

   Return the strained broth to the pot. Add the potatoes and grated beet first. When the potatoes begin to soften at the edges, add the cabbage and sweet pepper. Grate in the tomatoes once the potatoes are nearly tender, then let the pot go gently until the tomato smell changes from raw leaf to round summer sweetness.

5. 5

   Build the zasmazhka

   Wipe the frying pan if the flour has darkened, then add two tablespoons of sunflower oil, the diced onion, and a pinch of salt. Cook low and slow until the onion turns translucent. Add the grated carrot and keep it moving until the carrot softens and the oil goes orange. This is zasmazhka, the slow-sweated flavour base.

   Add the zasmazhka near the end. Its sweetness sits brightly on the broth; stirred in early, it disappears into the stock and the pot tastes flatter.
6. 6

   Sour the pot

   Stir the zasmazhka into the soup, then add the crushed garlic and fermented tomato mors a ladle at a time. Taste as you go. You want bright sourness behind the tomato, not a sharp slap. Salt carefully, because the mors brings its own salt.

7. 7

   Finish with fish

   Slide the fried fish pieces into the pot and spoon broth over them instead of stirring hard. Keep the surface barely moving until the fish turns opaque and lifts from the bone or flakes under a fork. Turn off the heat, add most of the chopped dill and black pepper, and let the pot sit covered so the fish finishes gently. This is tomato-led and looser than a winter meat borshch, but every spoonful should catch fish, potato, cabbage, and dill.

8. 8

   Serve generously

   Ladle carefully so each bowl gets a whole piece of fish. Finish with more dill, a thin thread of green sunflower oil, and smetana if you like the cool cream against the sour tomato broth. Serve with black bread or pampushky, and put the pot back on the table because someone will ask for more.

Chef Tips

• •Use firm fish with bones and skin if you can: carp, pike-perch, catfish, or trout. Delicate boneless fillets will still taste good, but they need a lighter hand and should go in right at the end.
• •Fermented tomato mors is the cloudy liquor from tomatoes kept under a 4 to 5 percent brine, salt weighed against the water. Strain it into the pot a little at a time; it brings sourness with body, not the flat bite of vinegar.
• •In August we'd be drowning in tomatoes; in January we open a jar instead. Crushed fermented tomatoes can replace some of the fresh ones, and the result is more winter Bessarabia than compromise.
• •The frying step will not forgive rushing. The fish needs a set surface before it meets the broth. The vegetable chopping forgives you completely.
• •Once the fish is in, do not boil the pot. A hard roll breaks the pieces and clouds the broth. Keep it at the smallest tremble and trust your eyes.
• •Unrefined sunflower oil is Ukraine in a bottle of oil. Use it for the zasmazhka and finishing; if your frying pan runs very hot, use refined sunflower oil for that part and save the green-gold one for where you taste it.

Advance Preparation

• •The fish broth can be made a day ahead and chilled. Keep it covered, then bring it back to a gentle simmer before building the borshch.
• •For make-ahead serving, cook the vegetable-tomato base the day before and add the fried fish when reheating. The sour tomato broth improves overnight, while the fish stays better if it is not cooked twice.
• •Leftovers keep chilled for 2 days. Reheat gently in a wide pan or pot so the fish pieces are not knocked about.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 470g)