Hot and sour mushroom soup by Alissa Timoshkina
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Category
Alissa Timoshkina
Servings
4
This soup is a love child of krupnik and zupa ogórkowa, the two classics from Ukraine and Poland. The natural sweetness of mushrooms enters in dialogue with the sharp tang of the sour cucumbers, while the heartiness of the soup is provided by the grains (krupa), either pearl barley or buckwheat. Make this soup in advance, and it keeps well in the fridge as the umami flavours continue to develop.
Taken from Alissa Timoshkina’s Kapusta: Vegetable-Forward Recipes from Eastern Europe (Quadrille.2025)
Author:Alissa Timoshkina
Ingredients
- 20g of wild mushrooms
- 150g of pearl barley or buckwheat
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp of sunflower oil
- 1 onion, peeled and diced
- 1 carrot, peeled and grated
- 1 tsp of dry dill
- 250g of chestnut mushrooms
- 2 tbsp of tomato puree
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 1 tbsp of chilli sauce (I prefer classic Sriracha) or ½ tsp of chilli powder
- 2-4 large sour cucumbers, grated
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 tbsp of fresh chopped dill
- 1 tbsp of sour cream per plate to serve (optional)
Directions
Soak the wild mushrooms in 500ml of hot water for 30 minutes.
Rinse the grain well, and place in a soup pot with a bay leaf and 2 litres of broth (you can use ready-made, stock cubes or homemade). Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes for buckwheat and 30 minutes for pearl barley.
In the meantime, heat up the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and carrot, season with salt and dry dill, and start frying on a medium heat.
Strain the wild mushrooms through a fine sieve, reserving the liquid but discarding any grit. Roughly chop all the mushrooms (wild and fresh), and add to the frying pan. Overall, this sofrito will take around 15 minutes to fry.
Next add the tomato puree, the sugar, the chilli sauce or powder, the cucumbers and the mushrooms soaking liquid, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Taste for seasoning and adjust to your liking.
Tip the contents of the pan to the soup pot, add the potatoes, fresh dill and place the pot into your WonderBag.
Wrap tightly and leave to slow-cook for 1,5-2 hours, or until ready to eat.
Recipe Note
Taken from Alissa Timoshkina’s Kapusta: Vegetable-Forward Recipes from Eastern Europe (Quadrille.2025)
