Ukrainian Borscht - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup carrot, peel and dice
1 cup celery, use both greens and stalks, chop fine
2 cups beets, peel and dice
1 cup green cabbage, shred
2 onions, remove outer skin and chop fine
2 tablespoons dill, chop fine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 bay leaves
6 cups water
2 cups tomato juice or 2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons sour cream (optional)

Preparation

Grate the carrots, beets, celery and cabbage on a medium size grater. I use the attachment on my Kitchenaid as this reduces the chopping time tremendously.
Dice the onion, and together with the shredded cabbage, fry in a bit of oil until the onions are light in colour.
Add the beets to the water; bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 30 minutes. To keep the colour in your beets, add the tablespoon of lemon juice.
Add the rest of the vegetables and once again, bring to a boil. Turn down your heat to simmer. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of the fresh dill.
Add the tomato juice. I very often use tomato sauce but I have also used undiluted tomato soup at times.
Dissolve the corn starch in 1/4 cup of water and add this to the simmering borsch. It'll thicken the soup.
Taste and adjust with salt & pepper. Lately I have been leaving out the salt as the tomato juice or sauce already contains a fair amount.
Just before serving, add a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!