Super foods recipe: beet and cranberry borscht

Cranberry juice brings sweetness and fruity goodness to red cabbage and purple beets in a soup that is full of vitamins and antioxidants. Whole-grain bread makes a tasty accompaniment.

Cabbage belongs to the brassica family, along with Brussels sprouts, broccoli and watercress. It is bursting with antioxidant nutrients, and also provides vitamin C and B vitamins, such as folate. There is some evidence to link brassicas with a reduced risk of getting cancer, especially cancer of the digestive tract.

Preparation: 5 minutes

Cooking: 15 minutes

Serves 4

• 1 onion
• 2 sticks celery
• 15 g (1 tbsp) olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 300 g (2/3 lb) red cabbage
• 450 g (1 lb) cooked beets
• 600 ml (2 1/2 c) hot low-sodium chicken stock
• 600 ml (2 1/2 c) cranberry juice drink
• 5 g (1 tsp) red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• 60 g (4 tbsp) low-fat plain yogurt
• 30 g (2 tbsp) snipped chives

1. Chop the onion and dice the celery. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over high heat and add the onion, celery, garlic and nutmeg. Stir the vegetables and reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for four minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften.
2.  Finely shred the red cabbage and dice the beets. Add the cabbage to the pan and cook, stirring, for one minute. Add the hot stock and the cranberry juice drink. Stir in the beets and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, so that the soup simmers steadily. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the vinegar, season to taste and ladle the soup into four bowls. Top each serving with one tablespoon yogurt and sprinkle with chives.

• Use fresh beets instead of cooked. Wash, trim, peel, and dice 450 grams (one pound) of fresh beets and add them to the onion mixture instead of the cabbage in step 2. Add the stock and water, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cabbage and cranberry juice drink and continue from step 2.
•  Try pomegranate juice drink instead of cranberry for a stronger sweet-sour soup. Increase the quantity of vinegar to 10 to 15 grams (two to three teaspoons), tasting as you add, to balance the sweeter fruit juice.

Cut red cabbage into short fine shreds by slicing it into slim wedges and then finely slicing the wedges — the cabbage should then fall apart. Vacuum-packed cooked beets, available from some specialty food stores, are an excellent pantry ingredient with a long shelf life. They work well in this recipe — just make sure they are not the kind preserved with vinegar or acetic acid. Otherwise, boil or bake unpeeled beets until tender, rub off the skins, and use as directed in the recipe.

Nutritional information: 225 calories • 5 g fat • 1 g saturated fat • 37 g carbohydrates • 8 g protein • 7 g fibre.