Okroshka: The Recipe

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Clarissa

July 24, 2017

Okroshka is one of the most typical Soviet dishes that is very popular in the summer. All that you need to do is chop quite finely the following:

radishes
cucumbers
hard-boiled eggs
parsley
boiled potatoes
green onions

You can just leave it at that for a meatless version, or you can add some chopped cooked skinless chicken breast. I actually use bologna because that’s what N prefers but it’s just as good meatless. You can also chop up some apple instead of the meat. I know it sounds like a weird way of substituting the meat but it totally works here.

Russians pour kvass over the chopped vegetables but in Ukraine we mix water and kefir in equal proportions and add a bit of lemon juice. I don’t add any salt because there’s already bologna and kefir in there but most people do. Then we pour the liquid over the chopped vegetables and put the whole thing in the fridge for a couple of hours.

It’s eaten cold, of course.

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4 responses to “Okroshka: The Recipe”

cliff arroyo

July 24, 2017

Can you grate the cucumber instead of chopping it up? I do that for a simple summer cold soup (mix buttermilk and/or kefir and/or clabbered milk) then grate a cubumber into it (using the side of the grater with the largest holes), chop some green onions and then add a lot of dill into it.

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1. Clarissa
  
  July 24, 2017
  
  I never tried but it’s an interesting idea. I always prefer chopping to grating because I’m not good with a grater.
  
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Stille (@aperfectbalance)

July 25, 2017

Hmm, I was taught a similar recipe by a friend with an Estonian ex. It has grated baked beets and non-baked cucumbers, chopped dill and green onion, kefir (no extra water unless it’s super thick kefir), lots of salt and pepper, and is supposed to be served with hard-boiled eggs and/or baked potatoes. We’re calling it asshole ex soup.

Apple actually makes a lot of sense as a meat substitute in this – both the chicken breast and the bologna would have this mealy, sweetish quality to them once dipped in the rest of the soup, so apple would work in a very similar way

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1. Clarissa
  
  July 25, 2017
  
  “We’re calling it asshole ex soup.”
  
  The best. 🙂
  
  Yes, there is also this kind of a cold soup with beets, etc. But I hate all cold soups and only make the okroshka for N.
  
  “Apple actually makes a lot of sense as a meat substitute in this – both the chicken breast and the bologna would have this mealy, sweetish quality to them once dipped in the rest of the soup, so apple would work in a very similar way”
  
  Absolutely. I also put apple into the Olivier salad, the most famous Soviet staple. Originally, it was made with crab meat (back in the Russian empire, not the USSR, of course) but that’s way too expensive. Apples solve the problem of adding a touch of sweetness to the whole thing.
  
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