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Buraczki zasmażane

Name: Buraczki zasmażane
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 75 min
Total time: 90 min
Cuisine: kuchnia polska
Ingredients: 700 g buraki (raw, unpeeled, about 5 medium, similar size; or 600 g cooked); 70 g cebula (1 small, finely chopped); 25 g masło (or oil, lard, duck or goose fat); 1 tbsp mąka pszenna (flat; can be omitted); 1 tsp cukier (flat, to taste); ¾ tsp sól; 1 pinch pieprz czarny mielony; 2 tbsp sok z cytryny (or 1–1.5 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar); 1 pc kwaśne jabłko (small, grated); 3 tbsp śmietana 18% (for the version with cream)

Warm grated beets in a light roux with onion, seasoned with lemon and a pinch of sugar, served with meat and potatoes. Tips on how to avoid burning the roux and which cooked beets to buy abroad to avoid pickled ones.

Servings: 4 servings
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Difficulty: Easy

Szklana miska ciemnoczerwonych tartych buraczków na białym koronkowym obrusie

The story behind the recipe

Buraczki zasmażane is a warm side dish made from cooked, grated beets sautéed in a roux with onion and seasoned sweet and sour. The version made only with butter and cream, without onion and roux, is called buraczkami na ciepło, and is also simply referred to as grated beets. They are served with everyday and Sunday dinners: alongside minced cutlets, pork chops, duck, with potatoes, kopytka (Polish potato dumplings), Silesian dumplings, or pyzy (Polish potato dumplings).

Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa in "365 Obiadach za 5 złotych" (1871) describes cooked, peeled, and thinly sliced beets, stewed for half an hour in a roux made from "fresh lard," a spoonful of flour, and chopped onion, with vinegar and a few tablespoons of sour or sweet cream. She advises to watch the roux "so it doesn’t brown," and considers sliced beets to be "better and prettier" than chopped ones. In the menus of the same book, buraczki accompany roasted duck ("Kaczki pieczone z buraczkami"), huzar roast, and tenderloin.

A close relative of buraczki is ćwikła, which is cold grated beets with horseradish. According to Polish Wikipedia, citing Paweł Lis's book "Kuchnia Słowian" (2009), the first Polish recipe for ćwikła was recorded by Mikołaj Rej in "Żywocie człowieka poczciwego" (1567). On the List of Traditional Products of the Ministry of Agriculture, "Ćwikła z Werbkowic" from Lublin Voivodeship was registered in 2016: cooked red beets with grated horseradish, eaten cold with meats and most associated with Easter. We did not find buraczki zasmażane on this list.

Ingredients

Buraczki

700 g buraki (raw, unpeeled, about 5 medium, similar size; or 600 g cooked)
Abroad: USA: Love Beets Cooked Beets; UK: cooked beetroot without vinegar (Love Beets No Vinegar, Sainsbury's Beetroot vacuum pack); Germany: Rote Bete vorgegart, vacuum packed
70 g cebula (1 small, finely chopped)
25 g masło (or oil, lard, duck or goose fat)
1 tbsp (about 7.5 g) mąka pszenna (flat; can be omitted)
Abroad: USA: all-purpose flour; UK: plain flour; Germany: Type 405 or 550
1 tsp (about 4 g) cukier (flat, to taste)
¾ tsp (about 4.5 g) sól
1 pinch pieprz czarny mielony
2 tbsp (30 ml) sok z cytryny (or 1–1.5 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar)
Abroad: apple cider vinegar: apple cider vinegar; Germany: Apfelessig

Niekoniecznie

1 pc kwaśne jabłko (small, grated)
3 tbsp (about 43 g) śmietana 18% (for the version with cream)
Abroad: sour cream; Germany: saure Sahne or Schmand

Method, step by step

Wash the beets, but do not trim or peel them. Place them whole in a pot, cover with water, and cook covered: small ones for 60–70 minutes, large ones up to 90 minutes.
Check if they are soft: a wooden stick should go into the beet without resistance. If they resist, continue cooking.
Drain the beets and peel them while still warm, wearing gloves. You can also cool them covered, then the skin comes off easily. Trim both ends.
Grate the beets on a medium or fine grater.
In a wide pan (at least 24 cm), melt the butter and sauté the finely chopped onion for about 5 minutes until translucent.
Add the flour and stir until it combines with the fat. Be careful not to let the roux brown.
When the roux foams, immediately add the grated beets (and grated apple if using) and mix. Season with salt, sugar, pepper, and lemon juice. Simmer on low heat for no longer than about 5 minutes.
Taste and adjust with sugar and lemon until the flavor is distinctly sweet and sour. For the version with cream, mix in the cream now, cover, and simmer on low heat for another 10–20 minutes.
Serve warm, alongside meat and potatoes.

Tips

Bitter taste. The roux has browned or burned. Keep it light over medium heat, and add the beets as soon as the flour foams.

Dull beets. They were stewed too long in the pan. After adding the beets, about 5 minutes on low heat is enough.

Flat taste. Not enough acidity or sugar. Taste at the end and season with lemon juice and sugar until the flavor is pronounced.

Too much liquid. Stew the beets until most of the liquid evaporates and they become shiny.

Unevenly cooked beets. Choose beets of similar size so they cook at the same time.

Red hands. Peel and grate the beets while wearing gloves.

Roasted beets. Instead of boiling, you can roast the beets wrapped in foil at 200°C or in a covered dish at 180°C for about an hour. According to the Kitchen Magazine, they have a stronger color and flavor this way.

Grater. Medium or fine grater holes are most commonly used; some prefer coarse. Ćwierczakiewiczowa sliced beets with a knife into thin strips.

Variations. With grated sour apple mixed in with the beets. With cream: mix in 3 tablespoons of 18% cream and stew covered on low heat for another 10–20 minutes. Instead of butter, you can use lard, cracklings, or fat from duck or goose. Beets left over from cooking borscht are also suitable for buraczki.

What to serve with. With pork chop, pork, minced cutlet, or duck, with potatoes, kopytka, Silesian dumplings, or pyzy. Ania Gotuje serves them alongside carrots with peas and sautéed cabbage.

For later. You can cook the beets a day in advance and keep them in the fridge. A larger portion of buraczki can be reheated for several days, and Moje Gotowanie advises transferring hot buraczki to sterilized jars and pasteurizing them.

Abroad. Cooked beets are often sold pickled, which changes the flavor of the dish. Look for cooked beets without vinegar. In the USA, for example, Love Beets "Cooked Beets" has beets as the only ingredient (their pickled lines contain vinegar). In the UK, choose "cooked beetroot" in vacuum packaging, without vinegar, such as Love Beets No Vinegar or Sainsbury's Beetroot vacuum pack, and avoid "beetroot in vinegar." In Germany, you can buy "Rote Bete, vorgegart" in vacuum packaging, but not "sauer eingelegt." In Australia, popular canned beets from Golden Circle contain sugar and vinegar in the brine, so if you use them, drain and rinse them, and reduce the sugar and lemon juice or omit them entirely. Fresh beets are best everywhere. With ready-cooked beets, you skip the boiling, and for 4 servings, you need about 600 g. Apple cider vinegar is "apple cider vinegar," and in Germany, it is "Apfelessig."

Photos

Kotlet panierowany, ziemniaki z koperkiem i buraczki na talerzu

Schab w sosie z młodymi ziemniakami i buraczkami na talerzu

Domowy obiad: panierowane kotlety z indyka, ziemniaki puree i miska tartych buraczków na obrusie w kwiaty

Polish cuisine Vegetarian Substitutes abroad

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