Make the stock by cooking the pork ribs with bay leaves, a roughly sliced onion, salt, and pepper in four litres of water in the soup pot for an hour. Bring to a boil then turn down to low. From time to time skim the scum off the top of the water.

Meanwhile, prep your vegetables: peel and slice carrots into rounds, peel and cut potatoes into cubes, roughly chop cabbage into a large pieces, peel and julienne beetroot.

In a pan, fry the finely chopped onion in a neutral cooking oil until soft, add the finely chopped garlic cloves and carrot, and continue frying until the onion is translucent, taking care not to burn the garlic, then set aside.

Remove the pork ribs and set aside, strain the stock to ensure there are no impurities, but keep the onions. Clean the soup pot, then return the stock, onions and pork ribs to the soup pot and simmer on low heat.

Add all the vegetables and fried onion, garlic and carrot to the soup pot, along with the crushed tomatoes, olive oil, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to boil then reduce to low heat and simmer the soup for a minimum of one hour (the longer you simmer it the better), adding more water if necessary. About ten minutes before serving, add the finely chopped fresh dill and parsley.

Ladle out the borscht into bowls and plop a dollop of sour cream into the soup and a few sprigs of dill onto the sour cream. Provide bowls of sour cream and roughly chopped dill on the table for guests to help themselves.