How about a plate of Ukrainian borsch? Nothing can warm your heart and stomach better than this traditional soup.

Borsch is beet soup and can be described as the national soup of Ukraine. Filled with beets and other vegetables from a typical Ukrainian garden, it is a hearty soup which could be found on almost every dinner table. Here is one of more than 500 versions of borsch recipes.

Ingredients:
1/4 pound salt pork, diced
1 large leek, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 celery or parsley root (about 6 ounces), peeled and cut in thin strips
3 beets (about 1/2 pound), peeled and shredded
1/2 heads of cabbage (about 1/2 pound), thinly sliced
2 quarts water
1 1/2 pounds cooked meat such as Kielbasa (Polish sausage), ham, beef, or pork, diced
1 can (8 ounces) whole tomatoes
1 cup rye flour "kvas"
2 tablespoon white flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 ts pepper
1 1/2 ts lemon juice or vinegar
1 c whipping cream or dairy sour cream horseradish (optional)

Fry salt pork until golden in a 5-quart pot. Add leeks and onion. Fry until onion is transparent. Add celery root, beets, cabbage, water, and meat. Cook until celery root is crisp tender; about 25 minutes. Add tomatos and kvas, mix. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Make a smooth paste of butter and flour and stir into the simmering soup. Cook and stir until soup thickens. Add salt, pepper, and lemon juice; mix in. To serve, spoon a small amount of cream and horseradish into each bowl. Ladle hot soup into bowl and stir to blend with the cream and horseradish.

Potato pancakes

Most popular among Ukrainians are traditional deruny, thick pancakes, made from shredded potatoes. This is a staple in Ukrainian homes and these pancakes will store well in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Your sweet Lady from Kievas a true daughter of Ukrainian people will feed you with the best deruny you've ever had!

Ingredients:
2 lbs of potatoes
2 eggs
black of pepper
2 tbsp of oil
a glass of sour cream

Grate the peeled potatoes. Add eggs, salt and pepper. Stir thoroughly (better with wooden spoon). Put with the spoon small pancakes on the hot frying pan with oil. Fry both sides till pancakes are medium brown. Deruny are served with sour cream. Sometimes they serve as a garnish for the meat dishes.

Cheese tarts

Vatrushky are savory open tarts with cottage cheese. It's a very common Ukrainian snack. Every Ukrainian family has its own recipe, handed down from generation to generation. They vary greatly but one thing is for sure, the Ukrainians put all their soul into them; no other dish reflects Ukrainian national cuisine better than vatrushky.

Ingredients:
Dough:
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 oz yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tb salt
5 tb butter

Filling:
2 cups cottage cheese
3 tablespoons sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons flour
1 grated lemon peel

Mix yeast, sugar, 1 teaspoon of flour in warm milk. Let it rise for 15-20 minutes. Add all the milk and half the flour, mix, let it rise again. When it has risen, add the rest of the flour, salt, butter and mix until it is smooth and elastic. Let the dough rise once more. Form small buns, put them on a greased baking sheet leaving 2 inches space between them, let rise for 10-15 minutes. Make depressions in the buns with the bottom of a glass. Smear the brims with whisked egg; fill the depression with the filling. Filling: Rub the cottage cheese through a strainer; add melted butter, grated lemon peel, sour cream, flour, egg yolks whisked with sugar. Mix it well (also, you can stuff Vatrushki with a jam, with cranberries minced with sugar, black cherries, apples, etc.) Bake at 200-220 C until lightly brown.