Beet shpundra: how to prepare this ancient Ukrainian dish the right way

Shpundra is an old Ukrainian dish with meat and beets. Simply put, it's stewed meat with beets and beet kvass served with sour cream.

Popular Ukrainian chef Anatoliy Dobrovolskyi, known as dobrovolskiy_hchef, shared a recipe for the ancient Ukrainian dish shpundra on his Instagram page.

Ingredients:

• pork (thigh or rib meat) - 0.5 kg
• beets - 1 kg
• onion - 0.3 kg

• garlic - 6 cloves
• prunes - 100 g
• tomato juice - 250 ml
• black pepper, salt
• bay leaf - 3-4 pcs
• smoked paprika - 1 tbsp
• smoked bacon or lard - 150 g
• beetroot kvass or juice - 300 ml
• sour cream and green onions (for serving)

Method of preparation:

1. Cut pork into medium pieces. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Heat the smoked bacon or lard in a frying pan. Add the pork and fry until golden brown.

3. Dice the onion and add to the meat. Stir and fry until golden brown.

4. Grate the garlic and add to the meat.

5. Cut the beets into cubes and prunes into strips and add to the meat. Mix well.

6. After a few minutes, put the mass in a saucepan, add the bay leaves, paprika, tomato juice and beetroot kvass. Simmer until the meat begins to fall apart and the liquid evaporates by about half.

7. Serve the dish with sour cream and green onions.