Monastery Cabbage Soup with Pearl Barley and Dried Mushrooms
Meatless shchi built on barley and dried mushrooms comes out of monastery kitchens, where grain and fungi stood in for meat during fasts. Two pots do the work: the pearl barley simmers low and slow until it softens and gives up its starch, while the dried mushrooms steep and then boil into a dark broth that replaces water as the base of the soup.
Soaking the barley overnight isn’t optional. Un-soaked, the hulled grain takes hours and still stays pebbly, and the soaking water is drained off in the morning because it carries the grey starch haze that clouds the finished pot.
The carrot and onion are never browned here. They stew in water with the butter for 15 to 20 minutes until sweet and soft, and that butter then spreads through the whole pot in golden beads — the fat layer a meatless soup needs to stop tasting thin.
Dried porcini give the deepest aroma, and 60 g (about 2 oz) is plenty for a big pot, though boletes or supermarket creminis will do. Cabbage and potatoes need only 20 to 25 minutes. Finish each bowl with smetana — the thick, tangy full-fat sour cream of the region; full-fat American sour cream or strained Greek yogurt gets you close — plus dill, parsley, and scallion added at the table.
Part of Eastern European cuisine — 68 more recipes in the section.
You might also like
Ingredients
Instructions
Rinse the pearl barley and soak it overnight in cold water, allowing a liter of water per cup of grain. In the morning, drain the water and boil the barley in another liter of water, ideally longer and over low heat.
Soak the dried mushrooms (about 60 g) for 3-4 hours, then boil them in a liter of water until done — this won't take long.
While the mushrooms and barley cook, grate 4 small carrots, finely chop 2 onions, add 2 cups of water and half a pack of butter, and stew it all over low heat for 15-20 minutes until soft.
Shred about 600 g of cabbage (a third of a medium head) and peel and cut half a kilo of potatoes (3-4 of them).
Cut up the cooked mushrooms and return them to the mushroom broth, then add the cooked barley, the finished sauté, the potatoes, and the cabbage.
Let it all cook together until the vegetables are done — about 20-25 minutes.
Season with salt to taste right away and, if you like, add a couple of bay leaves and a few black peppercorns.
Once it's ready, serve at once, seasoning with sour cream straight in the bowl and tossing each portion with chopped herbs — parsley, dill, and green onion to taste.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.