Dukhobor Borscht! So delicious

This is the wintery companion piece to my earlier Borscht post.

Dukhobor Borscht is quite different from Russian Borscht. It only has one beet that is cut in half and boiled in the stock it is then unceremoniously removed and discarded (or eaten, if you're like me and love beets). Dukhobor Borscht also takes kind of a long time to make and is full of steps. Each vegetable is sauted before you put it in the pot and it contains both diced and mashed potatoes. But trust me on this one guys it is TOTALLY worth the effort.

The recipe I have makes a big batch that I will be freezing. Tonight I'm eating it with cabbage-potato pancakes and plain yogurt.

Let's go!

Ingredients:
1 large can whole tomatoes
1 1/2 cups Butter or olive oil (okay so that's the amount the recipe actually calls for but I end up using probably a third of that. When you saute all the veg in that much butter it does taste delicious though... so I'll leave the amount decision up to your excellent discretion)
3-4 medium onions (should make about a cup of chopped onion)
1 carrot, grated
1 carrot, chopped
2/3 of a cabbage (should make about 3 cups shredded)
5-8 potatoes
1 cup Cream (optional)
1 medium beet
Dill
Salt (or dill-salt)

Before you start sauteing:
Put into a LARGE pot one and a half quart sized mason jars of water (you know the size of jar, think those glass ones that you get spaghetti sauce in).
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I have dill salt that a friend gave me so I'm using that. Also because at this time of year fresh dill costs more than I care to spend)
3/4 of your potatoes washed and quartered
The chopped carrot
The beet, halved

Boil until the potatoes are tender enough to remove and mash. When they are tender enough to do that, then do it. Mash with olive oil (I made an almost no dairy version of this recipe so whenever I say "olive oil and salt" feel free to read "butter"), salt and cream (If you want. I used a bit of plain yogurt)

Start the sauteing process by dumping the can of tomatoes into a large frying pan with some olive oil and salt and give the tomatoes a gentle mash. Let this simmer till it thickens. Dump that in a big ol'bowl and put it off to the side.

In your large frying pan put in a generous drizzle-glop of olive oil and add the onion and grated carrot with a dash of salt. Saute this until everything is nice and tender. Onions should be translucent not brown. Dump into the tomato bowl and set aside.

Add a generous drizzle-glop of olive oil and add your cabbage. Saute until tender and then...

When the potatoes are tender enough and you've removed and mashed them, add the remaining potatoes diced, and the cabbage. Cook this until the now diced potatoes are tender but not mooshy.

What you should have by now is a big bowl with tomato, carrot and onion in it, another bowl full of mashed potatoes and a big pot with diced potatoes and carrots and beet stock. You can remove the halved beet at this point and add the tomato, carrot bowl. Bring this up to a boil and gradually add the mashed potatoes.

The borscht ends up an amazing texture because of the diced and mashed potatoes and it tastes amazing! Putting fresh dill or parsley in at this point is also nice. Enjoy!! I sure am!