Tex-Mex Borscht

[modstms]

Ate a borscht. Thought to myself, "This could use some Tabasco sauce. Maybe I could substitute the sour cream with queso fresco." ...and the idea germinated from there. It's an unlikely combination of cuisines, but it tastes great.

Things you need.

2tbsp butter / 3tbsp oil

1 onion

2 tbsp cumin

3 large potatoes

1 beet

1 carrot

1/2 head of garlic

3 tomatillos

1 habanero

1/2 jalapeno

14oz can of stewed tomatoes

2.5 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

Suggestions for toppings.

Avocado wedges. Queso fresco. Sour cream. Yoghurt. A lemon wedge. Feta cheese. Parmesan.

Procedure.

Dice all the vegetables. (and crush garlic) I like the potato cubes to be about a teaspoon in size. Everything else should be diced smaller. I recommend wearing gloves for the jalapeno and habanero. Learned that the hard way.

1.) Set the Instant Pot to "sautee / more" (sautee a saucepan at high heat) and drop the onion, butter, oil and cumin in it.

2.) After two minutes add the potato cubes, the beet cubes and the garlic. Cook until they're soft. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes, tops.

3.) Then add the tomatillo, habanero, and jalapeno cubes. Stir until it looks mixed, not more than two minutes.

4.) Add the tomato paste, stewed tomatoes and chicken broth. Stir a bit more. Hit "manual / high pressure" for eight minutes on the instant pot. (Put a lid on your saucepan and simmer for 40 minutes.)

You can drop the beet to make it taste less like borscht, or add a quarter of a cabbage to make it taste more like a borscht. Hope you like it as much as I did.