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Hong Kong Style Borscht Soup

January 10, 2018 By Lokness 38 Comments

This bowl of hot Hong Kong Style Borscht Soup will keep you warm and full all winter long. This tomato soup is made with beef bones and packed with plenty of vegetables! Hearty with a hint of acidity from fresh lemon juice.

Let me be very clear. This is not the East European borscht. There is no beetroot and sour cream. This is the borscht soup (羅宋湯) that is common in Hong Kong. According to Apple Daily (Hong Kong newspaper), Russian cuisine was once popular in Shanghai around the time of Word War II. After the war, many Shanghainese migrated to Hong Kong and they brought along Russian food. However, Russian food never took off in Hong Kong. Since borscht soup is a vegetable soup and it’s seen as part of western cuisine, many restaurants start making it. It has gained popularity, especially in Hong Kong style cafes (cha chaan teng). The recipe was changed to fit into the liking of Hong Kong people. The soup is no longer made with red beets. Instead, it is a beef broth based tomato soup with lots of vegetables.

In Hong Kong style cafes, when you order a meal, it usually comes with a soup. There are often 3 choices, creamy corn soup, borscht and the daily special Chinese soup. I picked borscht almost every time, and so does my mom! It’s nice to have something lighter and a bit acidic before the entree.

My version of borscht is a bit richer than restaurants’ version, because it’s made with a good amount of beef bones and tons of vegetables. Before starting the soup, the beef and beef bones need to be blanched first. It’s a common Chinese practice to remove blood from meats and bones. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the beef and bring to a boil again. Some brown stuffs and foam would float to the top. Drain and rinse under tap water to remove all the brown stuffs. The bones are now ready for the soup.

Get another large cleaned pot, saute the vegetables (onion, carrot, celery) for a deeper flavor. Add the tomato paste, bay leafs, beef bones, water and cabbage. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 hours. At last, season with salt and pepper. Don’t forget the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. The acidity is a nice touch and a must for borscht! If you want to turn the soup to a hearty meal, just add cooked macaroni right before serving. Voila! You got yourself a bowl of noodle soup!

Hong Kong Style Borscht Soup #soup #hongkongfood #vegetables #beefbone #borschtsoup | The Missing Lokness
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5 from 9 votes

Hong Kong Style Borscht Soup

Course Soup
Cuisine Hong Kong
Keyword beef, borscht soup, cha chaan teng, hong kong, hong kong style cafe, soup, tomato
Servings 6 servings
Author Lokness

Ingredients

  • 1 pound beef bones
  • ½ pound beef chunk meat or stew meat
  • 1 small onion (diced)
  • 3 small carrots (peeled and diced)
  • 4 celery stalks (diced)
  • 1 can tomato paste (170g)
  • 3 tomatoes (core removed and diced)
  • 12½ cups water
  • 1/2 cabbage (rinsed and cut into large bite size)
  • 5 bay leafs
  • 6 black peppercorns (optional)
  • 2 red potatoes (peeled and diced)(optional)
  • 2½ teaspoons salt
  • 1½ tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1½ tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • ground black pepper
  • vegetable oil

Instructions

  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the beef bones and meat. Bring back to a boil. Drain and rinse the bones and meat under tap water for a couple minutes. Set aside to drain and cool.
  • In another large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Add onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add carrot and celery and cook for another 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for 4 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and mix well. Add the bones, meat, 12½ cups water, chopped cabbage, bay leafs and black peppercorns (if using). Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium-low heat and cook for 1½ hours, stirring occasionally.
  • Remove the beef chunk meat and cut into bite size pieces. Put back to soup. Add potatoes if using and continue to cook for another 1½ hours. Season with salt, sugar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper. Taste and adjust with seasoning to your own taste. Remove bay leafs and peppercorns. Transfer to serving bowls. Serve immediately with dinner rolls (or Hawaiian rolls). 

Notes

  1. For beef bones, ask your butcher and he should have it. 
  2. If you like, you can just use beef short ribs. I have done it with 1½ pounds short ribs. 
  3. If you prefer, you can also add cooked macaroni into the soup at the very end to serve as a noodle soup.
(Adapted from Sweetheart Kitchen)

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Filed Under: Cook, Soup Tagged With: Beef, borscht, cabbage, carrot, celery, cha chaan teng, hong kong, Hong Kong style cafe, potato, soup, tomato

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Monica says

    January 12, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    Happy New Year!
    Your recipes rock and always gets me smiling with memories. I used to have this all the time during these “set” dinners and my mom made a version of it. I love that tang. Your soup just looks wonderful.

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      February 9, 2018 at 5:01 pm

      Cha chaan teng favorite! I also ordered that too! The flavors were perfect! ?

      Reply
  2. Neta says

    January 13, 2018 at 11:16 pm

    5 stars
    This looks great!!! Can’t wait to try it out!

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      February 9, 2018 at 5:02 pm

      Thank you! Hope you will like this as much as we do!

      Reply
  3. Bernice says

    September 27, 2018 at 4:53 pm

    Am I missing something? What do I do with the bones that I set aside in step 1?

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      September 27, 2018 at 5:01 pm

      Hi Bernice,

      So sorry about that. I somehow forgot to add that into the recipe. You add the bones and meat along with 12½ cups water, chopped cabbage, bay leafs and black peppercorns. Thank you very much for pointing it out. I just edited the recipe.

      Reply
  4. Miu says

    October 15, 2018 at 10:43 am

    Hi Lokness, Can I use Balsamic vinegar instead of lemon?

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      October 15, 2018 at 5:22 pm

      Hi Miu,
      Some balsamic vinegar is on the sweet side. Make sure to check if yours is sweet or acidic. If not, maybe apple cider vinegar? But I haven’t tried that before, so I can’t say for sure. You can scoop out a little bit soup and do a quick test with the vinegar.

      Reply
  5. H says

    January 22, 2019 at 7:42 am

    5 stars
    Made the recipe vegan by emitting the bones and meat and using vegan Worcestershire and it was wonderful, thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      January 28, 2019 at 3:14 pm

      Thank you H for coming back and letting me know! So glad to know you enjoyed it. 🙂

      Reply
  6. David Dobrydnio says

    December 14, 2019 at 7:24 am

    I made your recipe and I loved it. All etiquette aside it was a slurp fest for me and quite frankly I think that was the right call. This Connecticut Yankee needs to go to China town in NYC to get a standard of comparison. Thanks again

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      December 15, 2019 at 8:36 am

      Thank you David! Very happy to hear you enjoyed it! Have a great day!

      Reply
      • Garry Ward says

        May 4, 2021 at 7:45 pm

        5 stars
        Lived in Hong Kong for a little over36 years. Trust me, your borscht is a true original HK one totally.
        I’m trying to find the hong law baat, ching law baat soup. I think it probably translates to carrot and green Falcon soup HELP HELP, PLEASE.

        Reply
        • Lokness says

          May 7, 2021 at 10:37 am

          Hi Garry. I have had the carrot and green radish soup, but I have never made it. But I believe it should be pretty straight forward. Just boil and simmer pork bones, cut carrot, cut green radish and water together for an hour or so. Hope this helps.

          Reply
  7. J says

    January 6, 2020 at 2:49 pm

    i noticed it says portion for 4. does that mean it yields only 4 bowls of soup?

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      January 6, 2020 at 3:13 pm

      It serves 4 people, about 2 bowls per person.

      Reply
      • j says

        January 11, 2020 at 9:31 am

        great thanks!!! was worried there wouldn’t be enough if ppl wanted seconds haha

        Reply
        • Lokness says

          January 13, 2020 at 9:37 am

          No problem! Enjoy!

          Reply
  8. Claire says

    January 11, 2020 at 4:02 am

    Hi Lokness,

    I made this last weekend, it tastes even better than the one I had in Hong Kong! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

    Thanks,
    Claire

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      January 13, 2020 at 9:37 am

      Thank you so much Claire! I’m very happy to hear that. That makes my day! ?

      Reply
      • Cindy Ng says

        November 16, 2021 at 10:25 pm

        Hello! When so you season the soup? Excited to make this!

        Reply
        • Lokness says

          November 17, 2021 at 1:26 pm

          Hi Cindy, you season at the very end. I have it in step 3. Hope you’ll like it.

          Reply
  9. Sannie says

    July 30, 2020 at 8:07 pm

    5 stars
    Amazing recipe! I used oxtails for the beef bones and it turned out so good. A real nostalgia bomb to all the HK cafe soups I’ve had. Thanks for posting!

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      July 31, 2020 at 9:49 am

      Thank you very much Sannie! That means a lot! I’m so happy to know you liked this! I love the idea of using oxtails. I should do that next time. Thanks for writing back and letting me know. Have a wonderful weekend! ☺️??

      Reply
  10. amanda says

    August 16, 2020 at 1:32 am

    The soup is amazing!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
    I kinda cheated and did beef stock instead of water and a light chicken broth to top up 😛

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      August 16, 2020 at 9:06 am

      Thank you so much Amanda! Haha, there is no cheating. Whichever way you prefer is the best way for you. ? Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for trying the recipe!

      Reply
  11. jen says

    October 25, 2020 at 2:25 am

    5 stars
    Hi Lokness, thank you SO much for sharing your recipe, it came out amazingly!! I’ve never been to HK but my friend is from there–for years, I’ve heard him raving about borscht. And I now can finally understand why!

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      October 30, 2020 at 11:14 am

      Hi Jen, I’m very happy to be able to show you what HK borscht is like. It’s one of my favorite soups, and I just made it recently. Thank you for coming back and letting me know the result! ??

      Reply
  12. Sarah Lau says

    December 23, 2020 at 10:07 am

    5 stars
    This came out pretty darn close to the Hong Kong cafe’s version. Im so happy to be able to make this at home whenever I want now. Thank you and keep the recipes coming!

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      March 30, 2021 at 10:06 am

      Sorry I didn’t see this comment until now. I’m sooo happy to hear! Thank you very much for letting me know, Sarah! ?

      Reply
  13. Olivia says

    March 29, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    I made this last time and it was divine! but this time I wanted to make this in an IP. Can I get your suggestion on how to make this in an IP?

    THank you!
    Olivia

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      March 30, 2021 at 10:28 am

      Hi Olivia, thank you for trying the recipe! For instant pot, I don’t own one, so I’m not too familiar with the functions. But I will cut the meat into bite size pieces and reduce the liquid to about 9½ water. For the cook time, that’s what I struggle. I read that some people suggest about 10 minutes on high pressure, but I’m not sure if that is too short. You probably have a better idea than me on this. Hope this helps somehow. Let me know how it goes! I would love to hear that. Good luck!

      Reply
    • Rudy says

      September 22, 2021 at 1:50 pm

      5 stars
      Made this. Added cloves and garlic instead of sugar.

      Reply
  14. Annie says

    October 14, 2022 at 1:49 am

    5 stars
    Very delicious! The recipe is a keeper. I modified using 2cups of roasted chicken stock (whatever I have leftover in my fridge) and the rest with water. I didn’t add any bones because I don’t have them. They still turned out so yummy! Thank you for sharing the recipe.

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      December 3, 2022 at 10:10 am

      Thank you Annie! Glad you enjoyed it! 😊

      Reply
  15. Duncan says

    November 27, 2022 at 5:42 am

    5 stars
    Ok, so I grew up in Toronto with a lot of Chinese friends. I used to go to a lot of chinese restraurants that gave you this soup before your meal. This was a trend for awhile and I loved this soup.

    I found your recipe and have been able to not only enjoy my youth but share it with my new and extended family that loves this soup. That’s so much for making this happen for me!

    ❤️

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      December 3, 2022 at 10:09 am

      Thank you very much Duncan! Yes, it’s usually come before a meal. It’s one of my favorite things. So happy to know you’re able to recreate the flavors at home and share with your families. This really makes my day! 😊

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Hong Kong Style Macaroni Soup with Ham - The Missing Lokness says:
    February 23, 2023 at 11:37 am

    […] many of the unique dishes started to appear in Hong Kong, like Baked Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, and Hong Kong Style Borscht Soup. Today, you can still easily enjoy all these dishes at Hong Kong style […]

    Reply

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Welcome! I'm Lokness. Currently live in Los Angles. Grew up in Hong Kong. Obsessed with chocolate & ice cream. Cooking is something I love. This is where I share my stories and recipes. Want to know more? Click here.
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