Prepare your vegetables. Wash beets and potatoes carefully with soapy water. Peel the carrots.

Place a large pot on the stovetop and heat to medium-high heat. Once warm, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the bottom.

Chop onion finely. Add to pot and sauté until translucent, about 5-10 minutes.

Grate, finely dice or shred the beets and carrots (you can use a food processor). This stage sparks controversy and bitter arguments among many, but here are my two cents: grating really does produce the best results, and it’s what most Russian babushkas would do. However, I really am lazy and prefer to shred my root vegetables in a food processor, but many delicious borscht recipes contain finely diced vegetables. To each their own, and I encourage you to try all three methods and pick your favorite.

Dice potatoes finely (this, too, depends on your patience. Sometimes I shred the potatoes along with my beets and carrots, but this definitely isn’t the ideal. In my eyes, the best borscht texture is achieved with grated beets and carrots and small, chunky potatoes you can sink your teeth into).

Add enough water to cover vegetables by two inches (about 8 cups). Add bay leaf and 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover and cook for one hour.

After an hour, taste your soup. Add your plum jam and vinegar. Taste for a balance of mouth-puckering sourness, balanced by the natural sweetness of the beets. Correct flavors and add vinegar, salt or white sugar, as needed.

When serving, garnish with a large, heaping tablespoon of vegan sour cream (or one tablespoon of heavy cream) and a sprinkling of finely chopped dill (my family heaps this on in ludicrous quantities. I don’t). Though it really is fine as it is.