Braised Beets with Vegetables in Sour Cream Sauce

Name: Braised Beets with Vegetables in Sour Cream Sauce
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Young beets 3-4; Carrot 1; Celery root (parsley root, parsnip) 1 piece; Garlic 2-3 cloves; Butter 2 tbsp; Sour cream 0.5 cup (100 g); Wine vinegar 1 tbsp; Bay leaf 1-2; Salt, black pepper to taste; Sugar 1 tsp (if the roots are not young), plus a little more to taste (5 g); Flour 1 tbsp (only for the version without sour cream) (10 g); Water 1 cup (plus a little for topping up) (200 ml)

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1 h 30 mins

When young vegetables appear, we make braised beets at home to go with boiled potatoes. While the roots are young they are very tender, almost sweet, deeply dark in color, and cook beautifully. The dish is easy and needs almost no attention. Just cut the vegetables, fry them lightly and braise under a lid until done.

A similar recipe turns up in almost all old cookbooks, including editions more than a century old. Interestingly, in the old recipes wine vinegar is one of the key ingredients. The acid is believed to bring out the full color of the beets. Today, it seems, new varieties of beets already have a great dark color and do not need any help.

An interesting thing about this dish is that it can be served hot or cold, as you like. Cold, it is an appetizer with a pleasant taste and few calories. It is somewhat like the well-known beet salad, but without mayonnaise. Hot, it is a wonderful side dish for boiled new potatoes. It is especially good when the small potatoes are topped with homemade sour cream, a chopped clove of garlic and young dill.

I read somewhere that in the ancient world beets were used purely as medicine, as they were considered healing. In Kyivan Rus’ beets were called “Sviatoslav’s vegetable”. The healing properties of this vegetable come from its many vitamins and antioxidants, and it has an antiseptic effect. Its good influence on gut flora also makes it a welcome vegetable in a healthy diet.

It is ideal if you cook in early summer and have nice small young beets. At other times of year, it is better to use small roots with an even color and a not-too-coarse texture.

Braised beets are also made with secondary vegetables. Usually these are carrots, parsley or celery root, sometimes parsnip and cabbage stalk, or kohlrabi as an alternative. In any case, beets should make up more than half of the dish. At the end of cooking, the braised vegetables can be covered with sour cream or sauce and baked in the oven. The amount of sauce is entirely up to you.

More with beets

Homemade Horseradish with Beet

Ingredients

2-4 servings

Young beets 3-4
Carrot 1
Celery root (parsley root, parsnip) 1 piece
Garlic 2-3 cloves
Butter 2 tbsp
Sour cream 0.5 cup (100 g)
Wine vinegar 1 tbsp
Bay leaf 1-2
Salt, black pepper to taste
Sugar 1 tsp (if the roots are not young), plus a little more to taste (5 g)
Flour 1 tbsp (only for the version without sour cream) (10 g)
Water 1 cup (plus a little for topping up) (200 ml)

Step-by-step recipe

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Frying the vegetables

The best braised beets come from young vegetables, with a soft, delicate flavor and a beautiful color. If you like, you can make the dish fully vegetarian by replacing the butter with vegetable oil. Without the sour cream, you can thicken it with a little flour, if you want. The secondary vegetables are up to you, and you can even do without them.
Fry the vegetables in butter. Peel the carrot and celery root and cut them into strips. Melt the butter in a deep skillet with a lid. Add the cut vegetables and fry for 5-6 mins, until they start to brown slightly. Peel the beets and cut them into thick strips or small slices, as you prefer. Stirring constantly, fry all the vegetables together for about 10 mins.

Braising

Add the seasonings and water. Salt the beets and vegetables very lightly and add 1 tbsp of wine vinegar. If you are afraid of it, add less, the braised beets will not turn sour either way. If the roots are not young, I recommend adding 1 tsp of sugar (5 g). Add the finely chopped garlic, stir the vegetables and add 1 cup of water (200 ml). Put the skillet on the heat and cover with a lid.
Braise the beets for 40 minutes. Braise the vegetables under the lid over low heat for about 40 mins. It helps to stir occasionally and to make sure there is a little water in the skillet. If the water has evaporated or been absorbed, add a little more, just a little. At the very end add 1-2 bay leaves. If needed, add a little sugar. I did, and it improved the flavor considerably. Be sure to add plenty of pepper to taste.
Add the sour cream and braise 10 more minutes. Add half a cup of sour cream (100 g), store-bought with 10-15% fat is fine. If you are making a fully vegetarian dish and replaced the butter with oil, stir 1 tbsp of flour (10 g) into half a cup of water (100 ml) in a cup, then strain the mixture into the vegetables. Stir the vegetables with the sour cream or flour sauce and braise under the lid for another 10 mins.

Serving

Serve the braised beets. All that is left is to decide how to serve them and with what. A cold appetizer should cool down and be served on its own. As a side dish, serve the beets on the same plate as the potatoes. Or put the beets in a small bowl and serve as a hot vegetable appetizer. They are also delicious simply with a piece of fresh bread.

Calories and macros

405 kcal

Serving ≈ 600 g

Protein9 g9% of kcal
Fat21 g50% of kcal
Carbs38 g40% of kcal

100 g68 kcalProtein 1.5 gFat 3.5 gCarbs 6.3 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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