Buraczki
Polish grated braised beetroot: roasted or boiled beetroot, grated and warmed in butter with sautéed onion, vinegar, sugar and a kick of fresh horseradish. The dark-magenta side served alongside Sunday roast pork, schnitzel and Christmas Eve carp. Sweet, sour and earthy in equal measure.
Overview
Beetroots roast in foil until tender (or boil for the quicker route), then peel and grate coarsely. The grated beetroot warms gently in butter with finely chopped onion, a splash of vinegar or lemon juice, sugar and a generous spoon of horseradish. Tastes of earth and warmth. Eaten warm in winter, room temperature in summer.
Ingredients
Beetroot
- 750 g fresh beetroots (about 4 medium; tops trimmed but not peeled)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Dressing
- 1 onion (medium, very finely chopped)
- 40 g unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (or fresh lemon juice)
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish (or 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish from a jar)
- ½ teaspoon ground caraway (optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
To finish
- A small bunch of fresh dill (finely chopped; optional)
Method
Stage 1 - Roast the beetroots
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
- Wash the beetroots, leave the skins on, rub lightly with olive oil.
- Wrap each beetroot loosely in foil; place on a baking tray.
- Roast 50-70 minutes (depending on size) until a knife slides through with no resistance.
- Let them rest 10 minutes; the skins should slip off when rubbed with kitchen paper (wear gloves; beetroot stains).
Stage 2 - Grate
- Coarsely grate the peeled warm beetroot on a box grater. Some prefer fine grating; both work.
- Set aside.
Stage 3 - Sauté the onion
- Melt the butter in a wide pan on medium heat.
- Add the onion; cook 8 minutes until translucent and soft, not coloured.
Stage 4 - Combine
- Add the grated beetroot to the pan.
- Stir in the vinegar, sugar, horseradish, caraway if using, salt and pepper.
- Warm through for 4-5 minutes, stirring, so the flavours combine. It should glisten and smell sweet-sharp.
Stage 5 - Taste and serve
- Taste. Balance: more sugar if too sharp, more vinegar if flat, more horseradish if it lacks heat.
- Scatter dill if using.
- Serve warm.
Notes
- Roasting beats boiling: Roasted beetroot keeps its sweet earthiness; boiled is watery. If pressed for time, vacuum-packed cooked beetroots (unflavoured, not vinegared) are a fair shortcut.
- Horseradish makes it Polish: Without it, this is just braised beetroot. Fresh grated has the cleanest heat; jarred prepared horseradish (with white vinegar) is a fine substitute.
- Wear gloves or apron: Raw beetroot stains hands, chopping boards and clothes. Lemon juice gets it off skin.
Variations
Cold version: Skip the butter sauté. Toss raw-grated cooked beetroot with the dressing; eat cold. With apple: Grate one tart apple in at the end; brightens the sweetness.
Serving
Serve with: Roast pork, kotlet schabowy, baked carp (Christmas Eve), or kielbasa. Sweet-sour foil to rich meat.
Storage
- Keeps 4 days refrigerated.
- Freezes 2 months.
More like this
Lahori Chana Pulao
Whole chickpeas are soaked overnight and simmered until tender (or pressure-cooked). The chickpea cooking liquor is measured and reserved as part of the rice cooking liquid. A fried-onion base is built in ghee with whole spices, ginger-garlic paste and ground spices, and the cooked chickpeas are folded in. Soaked basmati is toasted in the base, then the measured cooking liquor goes in for the steam. A scatter of fried onion and coriander finishes.
Andouille Skewers
A Cajun cookout skewer, the kind of thing that comes off the grill at a Louisiana backyard barbecue while the gumbo is finishing on the back burner. You take andouille (the heavily smoked, garlicky Cajun pork sausage) and cut it into thick coins, then thread them onto pre-soaked wooden skewers (or metal) with chunks of red and green pepper, red onion, and a few halved cherry tomatoes. Brush with a quick Cajun glaze of melted butter, garlic, brown sugar, hot sauce and Cajun seasoning. Onto a hot grill over high heat for just long enough to char the vegetables and bring the sausage shiny and sticky. Eaten straight off the skewer with a beer in the other hand, the smoke still hanging in the air.
Bamia Iraqi
Lamb shoulder is browned hard; onion is softened; garlic, baharat and tomato paste join. Stock, tamarind, dried lime and tinned tomato deglaze. The lamb is braised for 75 minutes. Small whole okra goes in the last 25 minutes (long enough to soften, short enough not to disintegrate). Taqliya, crushed garlic and coriander sizzled in oil, is drizzled over at the end.
Chicken Inasal
Chicken inasal is the pride of Bacolod City on Negros Occidental, where streetside grill houses serve nothing else: trays of chicken parts skewered on bamboo, smoking over long coal pits, with the cook brushing on bright orange annatto oil every few turns. The marinade is what marks it as Filipino: calamansi (a small, sour citrus halfway between lime and tangerine), cane vinegar, ginger, lemongrass, garlic and a generous slug of black pepper. The annatto oil (atsuete) is just neutral oil warmed gently with annatto seeds until it stains a vivid orange-red; this is the dish's signature look and a mild peppery flavour. Basting starts halfway through cooking so the colour goes onto skin that's already partly cooked, and continues right up to the moment the chicken leaves the grill. Difficulty for a home cook is low; the only special ingredients are calamansi (lime juice plus a touch of orange juice substitutes well) and annatto seeds (sometimes sold as achiote, found in any Filipino or Latin American shop). The flavour profile is sharp, herbal, slightly smoky, with a peppery edge from black pepper rather than chilli, and ribbon-thin lemongrass perfume running through everything. Service is non-negotiable: a heap of garlic rice (sinangag), a saucer of toyomansi (soy-calamansi-vinegar dipping sauce with sliced chillies), and the cook's pot of warm annatto oil for the table.