The world is big, but its communities are small. With Ukraine at war, we thought making and celebrating their national dish, borshch, was a way of keeping them in our hearts, minds (and stomachs). So, we called a Russian friend, Alexei, who called an Armenian friend, Katya, who called a Ukrainian friend, Olga. Next thing we had a recipe for borshch, with spelling based on Ukrainian transliteration and pronunciation.

“In Ukraine, we say that there are as many borshch recipes as there are cooks. Each family has its own cooking features. Borshch is prepared in many different variations—with beans, sorrel, mushrooms, chicken, beef, or vegetarian. The famous soup is traditionally served with pampushki, Ukrainian pull-apart garlic buns," says cook Olga Kryshtal, whose recipe uses pork, cabbage and beets. Olga—originally from Nikopol in South Ukraine, on the right bank of the Dnieper River—prepared this recipe for the Cook for Ukraine fundraiser in 2022 and kindly shared it with us.

Serves 6

1. To prepare stock, place meat, whole onion, bay leaf and water into a large pot. Season the water lightly and cook over low heat for 1 hour, skimming occasionally. Strain the broth, discard the onion, pull out the meat and reserve.

2. To prepare soup add beets to the broth, cook for 20 minutes.

3. Add potato, carrot and bell pepper to the broth. Cook for 10 minutes.

4. Heat sunflower oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onions, fry until golden brown. Add tomato paste and 1 cup of water. Cook for 2 minutes. Add to the broth.

5. Add shredded cabbage to the pot and cook together with the other ingredients for 10 minutes.

6. Chop a bunch of dill, parsley and scallions. Crush it in a mortar with pestle to release juice. Add chopped pre-boiled eggs, add everything to a pot.

7. Add a pinch of salt. Cut the pork and put it in your soup. Add more water if needed. Cook everything for 5 more minutes.

8. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream, chopped dill and pampushki, Ukrainian pull-apart garlic buns.