Thursday 12 March 2009

Polish horseradish soup

Polish: chrzan
Ossetian: туттургъан
Hebrew: חזרת הגינה
faroese: piparrót
Galician: labestro
Spanish: rábano picante
Greek: αγριοραπάνια
Estonian: mädarőigas
Latvian: mārrutka
Ukrainian: хрін

Horseradish is an important ingredient of Easter menu in Poland. I am slowly composing Easter menu, so last week I was trying a regional recipe for a horseradish soup from southern Poland highlander town, Lanckorona (chrzanówka lanckorońska), to be able to choose the best soup for Easter breakfast. I recommend this spicy soup to all fans of horseradish, turnip, rutabaga, garden cress and radish.

see also: Polish whey-millet soup
see also: Moldovan whey soup

1l whey*
5 tablespoons freshly ground horseradish
5 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon flour
2 garlic cloves
3 eggs
1 teaspoon lovage
salt, pepper to taste
(+ originally ribs and a bit of sausage)

1*. Don't have whey? To obtain about 1l of whey, take 1,5l milk and 2-3 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice. Bring milk on a low heat with vinegar/lemon juice without boiling, until it curdles. This is it, now you have to separate curd from whey using a fine sieve. (Of course, don't throw the curd, just eat it with scallions, dill and garlic on a slice of fresh bread!)



2. In a saucepan, put ribs and sausage (or a vegetable stock cube), ground horseradish and chopped eggs. Pour whey over the ingredients and slowly bring to boil. Season with salt and pepper. Take the meat off.

3. In a bowl, perfectly whisk flour with sour cream to omit lumps. Add 1 cup of your warm soup from the pan and whisk again. Now add this mixture to the soup and cook. Add lovage and ground garlic 1 minute before serving.

4. Serve with cooked potatoes sprinkled with fresh dill and parsley green.

5 comments:

Agata Chmielewska (Kurczak) said...

oj dla mnie chrzan jest za ostry, taka zupa i zgaga murowana :/

Ewa said...

Skoro tak to faktycznie nie polecam tej zupy, choć smakuje genialnie. A na zgagę jedz koniecznie migdały! :)

Anonymous said...

aga-aa
Nie przesadzaj z tą zgagą. Chrzan jest bardzo zdrowy, a zupa jest wyjątkowo smaczna. Jeśli u Ciebie występuje zgaga po zjedzeniu takiej zupy to Twoja wielka strata. Radzę jednak wypróbować, bo warto nawet gdyby zgaga miała dokuczać całą dobę.
Renata

Ewa said...

Renato, to pewnie zależy od osoby, moja mama miewa zgagę, ale po tej zupie jej akurat nic nie dolegało, wręcz przeciwnie, była bardzo ukontentowana :)

Tim said...

Afraid to poison people? I think your whey method by acidification may be fast and convenient for some but selling out the most healthy way/whey. Pathogen-free active dairy cultures are readily available in most stores now in products like kefir, buttermilk, cottage cheese, sour cream. These will work at room temperature like the original method with raw milk from healthy cows left to sour, and unlike most yoghurt bacterial cultures which are not so robust at room temps. Would you worry about home-made sauerkraut? At least mention the option. Best wishes for good food and healthy eating. Tim