Svekolnik - Another Cold Summer Soup

I brought back this recipe from my recent trip to Russia. We were visiting some good old friends who gave us a warm welcome with this cold soup !

Svekolnik takes it name from the main ingredient - the beetroot - which in Russian is called "svekla". This particular recipe calls for young, tender veggies, ideally just picked from your own garden. Those of us confined in city appartments will have to make do with the freshest veggies we can find. Do not be afraid to use the greens from the carrots and beetroot, but make sure you wash them thoroughly before use.

Just as for the previous recipes on this blog, there is an endlessly ongoing combat in the underground world of russian cuisine aficionados. That combat carries the code name "My Recipe Is More Authentic Then Yours". I warmly encourage you, dear reader, to steer clear of the advice of anyone claiming such nonsense. My zen reply to all of that is : Trust your tastebuds. They will lead you on the path of truth.

Seriously now, of the hundreds of different recipes you might find of this beetroot soup, the following one is my favourite for its uncommon use of ginger and spices which are not exactly traditional, but bring this dish to a completely new level of taste and deliciousness.

This is a very seasonal soup, and the quantities are not very precise, because the vegetables may vary in size. Trust your instincts and your appetite to tweak the quantities given here.

Oh and as a reminder- it's a cold soup, which means even though it only takes 15 minutes to cook, it needs to be prepared in advance because it needs time to cool down.

Without further ado - on to the recipe!

3 young beetroots with leaves

1 bunch of young carrots with leaves

6 new potatoes

1/2 a lemon (for the juice)

a handful of fresh spinach

a handful of fresh sorrel

any of the following fresh herbs in any combination:

basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley, dill

fresh ginger (optional)

cumin seeds (optional)

coriander seeds (optional)

salt

pepper

To serve:

1 boiled egg per serving (optional)

sour cream (optional)

1. Cut the greens off the vegetables and put them aside. Dice all the vegetables.

2. Your soup will taste better if you cook it with mineral water, or any kind of bottled water.

Half-fill a large pot with cold water, and throw in the potatoes, carrots and beetroot.

3. While you're bringing the veggies to a boil, wash and roughly chop all the greens, the spinach and the sorrel. Finely dice the ginger root.

4. When the soup is boiling, turn the fire down, throw in all that stuff you've been chopping and dicing in 3.

5. Add salt, pepper, cumin and coriander seeds and lemon juice.

6. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes, but turn the stove off before the greens lose their colour.

7. Let the soup cool down before serving. Serve with a boiled egg cut in halves and a spoonful of sour cream. Feel your entire body cool down as you eat this heavenly refreshing dish. Sigh with delight. Ask for seconds.

Okroshka (cold summer soup)

Okroshka – n. fem. sg. ; from the verb “крошитъ” /kroshi:t/ , to dice.

Impervious to seasons, russian people demand soup for every occasion, no matter how hot it is outside. And since the sun is shining, here is the staple of traditional summer food in Russia – okroshka. A less refined taster might say it’s just russian salad served with beer instead of mayonnaise, but I know that you know better than that!
First of all, it is not beer that you will need to make okroshka, but kvas – a fermented bread drink which might be available at your local generic slavic food store. As emigration showed, it is actually very replaceable by your favourite light lager or any type of “bière de table” which will be low in alcohol.
Kvas is not difficult to make, but it demands constant care and attention, as any preparation which involves fermenting. My grandmother used to make delicious kvas in enourmous 3L jars, and it is said that my great-grandmother’s mint kvas was heavenly. To my surprise, it turned out the talent of making fermented beverages does not really run in the family, as my only attempt to make some kvas was an unspeakable disaster which put me off attempting any sort of brewing for quite some time... But now that time has passed, I am tempted to give it another try. I bet that’s what my next post here will be about. I bet it’s going to be historical, whatever happens; stay tuned!

Enough digression, back to the soup of all cold soups!

Okroshka, as its name suggests, is a mix of cold diced and chopped ingredients which are vegetables, herbs, boiled eggs, and sometimes meat or fish.

The basis of the mix are : boiled potatoes, fresh cucumbers, fresh radishes. Sometimes boiled beetroot, carrots, beets are used as well. I bend all the rules and rebel against tradition by adding some diced pickled cucumbers. The herbs must include spring onion and dill which give a distinctive “russian” taste, while (in my opinion) chervil, parsley and estragon are optional. You may also use the greens from the radishes : hold the greens under very hot water for a couple of seconds before draining them, chopping them and adding them to the mix.

The proportion of vegetable mix to meat or fish will be 1:1.
If used, the meat will either be some sort of low-fat sausage (like veal), or boiled beef, or chicken. In the “olden days” the meat that was used was suckling pig or turkey – tender meats which didn’t have a strong taste.
If fish is used, the same rule applies here – no strong tastes, fresh water fish is advised, such as perch for instance.

It is difficult to suggest amounts per portion, since it depends on your appetite only. As usual, I would suggest to prepare only a small amount if you are tasting this dish for the first time. Generally, it’s one potato, one egg, a handful of diced radishes, a handful of diced cucumber, a handful of chopped herbs per stomach.

Oh, it might contain “beer”, but it’s still a soup, so let me be Captain Obvious here, just in case: you eat it with a spoon.

Here’s the recipe for the very basic, meat-free, fish-free, rebel-pickle-free okroshka.

You’ll need:

A chopping board

A big bowl for mixing

4 smaller bowls for serving

Ingredients (approximately for 4):

1L of light lager, chilled
4 eggs, boiled, cooled and peeled
4 large potatoes, boiled, cooled and peeled
1 cucumber
1 bunch of radishes, separated from greens
1 bunch of dill (or 4 teaspoons of dry dill)
3 twigs of green onions
salt

1. Dice the vegetables and the eggs and mix it all in a large bowl. Salt to taste, or leave some salt on the table for everyone to season their dish to their own taste.

2. Chop the herbs.

3. Divide the mix between four smaller bowls and sprinkle the herbs on top.

4. Pour some lager on top of the mix right before serving.

5. Feel the fresh bubbles of chilled lager mix with the fragrant herbs on your palate, crunch the crunchy radish, munch the soft potato, feel triumphantly sorry for those other poor bastards who have never heard of this refreshing, easy, perfect summer dish!