Russian Soup Recipes

Beetroot Soup | Buckwheat Soup | Cabbage Soup | Cream of Mushroom Soup | Evgenia's Borsch | Mashhurda/Uzbek Mung Bean Soup | Vadim's Borsch

Soups are a Russian tradition, often served for breakfast as well as being the first course on a full dinner menu after 'Zakuski' or the 'hors d'oeuvres'. Many Russian soups are a complete meal in themselves, packed full of vegetables, meats or fish. When served accompanied with 'Pirozhki' - small pastries with mushroom, cabbage, rice or meat fillings, - they are nourishing and filling.

One of the most well known Russian soups is the richly coloured, semi-sweet 'Borscht' made with meat and vegetables, including beetroot. Other traditional Russian soups include 'Shchi' made from cabbage or Sauerkraut, fish soup 'Ukha' - known as the Mother of all Russian soups, 'Solyanka' made from meats or fish, veges and pickles, and 'Okroshka' a cold soup of meats and vegetables served with boiled eggs and sour cream.

Often made in large quantities, Russian soups can be kept for many days in the fridge (or frozen) as they improve on the second or third day of serving.

Cook's Tip: An old cooking tip suggests that the flavour of the stock, when made from a chunk of tough beef, can be improved by the addition of vodka! Adding two tablespoons of the beverage to the stock, after removing the foam, will make the meat tender and better tasting. Any odour of the vodka will quickly evaporate.