Place the beets in cold water and bring to the boil You will need to simmer them for 60 minutes for a large and 30 minutes for small beets. If you do this in a pressure cooker it halves the cooking time.
Let them cool and then remove them from the water (in the sink) and slip the skins off with your hands. Remove the top and the tail too.
Chop the beets into small cubes and then, using a fork, roughly mash about 2/3 of them. Place the beets into a big bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients except the sour cream and the salt/pepper and mix well to blend everything together.
Add the sour cream and give it a stir. Add salt and pepper, stir again. Taste and adjust. You may want more lemon juice, for example.
Scrape this into an attractive bowl and use it as a dip for crackers or raw vegetables.