Explore the Soups of Eastern Europe!

[duonyte]

Soups are found all over the world, but I venture to guess that no place has the variety of soups that are found in Eastern Europe. Hot soups, cold soups, meat soups, milk soups, vegetable soups, fruit soups. Soups for every time of the day! My father grew up on a farm in Lithuania, and he would tell me how soups were served at least three times a day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. The family and farm hands needed something very solid and filling to prepare them for the work day, so both a milk-based soup and a meat-based soup would be served with breakfast.

And soups can be very frugal. Bits and pieces of vegetables, bones and gristly parts of meat, and the odd herb and spice find their way into the stockpot, to create a good broth that is the basis of any soup. The broth can be served by itself, or enhanced with more meat, vegetables, sour cream, or whatever else is available for a more filling dish.

I chose just a few soups from the countries that make up Eastern Europe, as examples of what is available, and hopefully to inspire you to try some of them out. And please feel free to suggest other favorite soups from this region!

Skanaus!


Albania
Albanian White Bean Soup (Jani Me Fasule)


Armenia
Apricot Lentil Soup
Armenian Lemon Chicken Soup
Armenian Lentil Soup

Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani Kefir and Greens Soup
Azerbaijani Pomegranate and Spinach Soup (Vegan)

Belarus
Mushroom and Barley Soup (Belarus)

Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bosanski Lonac - Bosnian Pot

Bulgaria
Tarator - Bulgarian Cold Cucumber Soup
Bulgarian Tomato Dumpling Soup
Shkembe Chorba (Tripe Soup)

Croatia
Croatian Mushroom Soup
Croatian Sarma Soup (Stuffed Cabbage Soup)
Croatian Pork Soup (�the Day After Soup�)

Czech Republic
Chilled Czech Blueberry Soup (Boruvkova Polevka Studena)
Czech Pork Soup

Estonia
Estonian Milk Soup With Pasta Shapes (Makaroni-Piimasupp)

Georgia
Kharcho (Georgian Beef-Walnut Soup with fresh herbs)
Vegetarian Kharcho (Spicy Georgian Soup)

Hungary
Hungarian Mushroom Soup
Karfiol Leves (Hungarian Cauliflower Soup)
Hungarian Goulash (Gulyas) Soup

Kazakhstan
Manty Soup from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Latvia
Frikadelu Zupa: Latvian Meatball Soup
Latvian borscht(AKA Ukrainian Borshch)
Latvian Potato and Wild Mushroom Soup

Lithuania
Lithuanian Cabbage Soup (Kopustu Sriuba)
Lithuanian Cold Beetroot Soup

Macedonia
Macedonian Vegetable Soup

Moldova
Moldovan Cream of Potato Soup

Poland
Krupnik (Polish Mushroom Barley Soup)
Polish Dill Pickle Soup
Polish Sausage (Kielbasa) Soup

Romania
Littlemafia's Romanian Meatballs Soup
Romanian Bean Soup
Sausage and Cabbage Ciorba

Russia
Shchi - Russian Cabbage Soup
Borshch Gourmet (Russian Beetroot Soup)
Ukha (Russian Fish Soup)

Serbia and Montenegro
Serbian Bean Soup

Slovak Republic
Slovak Christmas Eve Mushroom Soup
Slovak Christmas Mushroom Soup

Slovenia
Slovenian Peasant Soup
Jota: Sauerkraut, Bean and Pork Soup

Ukraine
Yanka's Ukrainian Meatball-Spinach Soup
Ukrainian Green Borshch (Zelany Borshch) Sorrel Soup
Ukrainian Borsch With Pyrizhky (Pyrohy) (Piroshki)

Uzbekistan
Kovurma Shorva from Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan Stew - Vegan

[Lorac]

My favorite mushroom soup - Polish Wild Mushroom Soup

[awalde]

Soounds great. I've just prepared the warming Ms*Bindy's Bulgarian Tomato Dumpling Soup #134492

[duonyte]

Awalde, what a great picture! I love dumpling soups, but have never had dumplings in a tomato soup. That looks so good!

[duonyte]

I made Latvian Potato and Wild Mushroom Soup tonight - it's really good and easy to make if you remember to start soaking the mushrooms before you leave for work.

[Jezski]

This is the recipe we use every Christmas for Wilia. We used to buy the dried Polish mushrooms and soak overnight in water to use as stock. Also sliced them into into the soup. But I never liked the slimy things so since the tradition had been passed on to me twenty years ago, recently I just leave them out. However, this year I sauteed some beautiful dark mushrooms and added them to the soup. We also serve roasted small potato chunks to add to the soup at the table. That seems to encourage some of our non-Polish family or guests to try the soup. You know, lots of potatoes, much less soup! The kids used to call this Pink Soup because it turns the most beautiful pink color after the sour cream is added.


Polish Barszcz

4 beets, washed, or 2 cups sliced canned (roasted fresh better than canned)
4 cups beet juice or vegetable stock or stock from the dried mushrooms
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and black pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wrap beets in aluminum foil and roast until
tender, about 30-45 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel and slice.

In a medium pot, bring stock to boil, add beets, sugar, and salt and
pepper to taste. Simmer 10 minutes. If you roast the beets, you may need some of the liquid from canned beets if you don't have enough color.

Mix sour cream with flour until well blended. Temper sour cream mixture
with a ladle of hot soup, whisking constantly. Transfer tempered sour cream to remaining soup and whisk until smooth. Simmer to cook out the raw flour taste and until the soup is thickened, but do not boil vigorously.

Slice or chunk (small) some of the cooked beets into the soup.

So many added instructions for such a simple soup but experience always helps, and this is what we have learned over the years.

[duonyte]

This is pretty much how I make Lithuanian Barsciai. If not for Kucios (Christmas Eve, which is meatless for us, too), then I will use chicken broth. I just love beets.

[duonyte]

Just made Kovurma Shorva from Uzbekistan from Uzbekistan - this is very good.

[UmmBinat]

Fun!

Thanks duonyte for featuring my recipe Albanian White Bean Soup (Jani Me Fasule)

[katie in the UP]

These sound good!! ... I really want to try them!!

Polish Dill Pickle Soup

Lithuanian Cabbage Soup (Kopustu Sriuba)

[duonyte]

Annacia just made Macedonian Vegetable Soup with a great review, check it out! And Nif made Estonian Milk Soup With Pasta Shapes (Makaroni-Piimasupp) another great review! Let's go EE Soups!

[duonyte]

Vestalis recently made Polish Dill Pickle Soup, another winner! Also Moldovan Cream of Potato Soup , reviewed by diner524