🇷🇺 Russian Federation · Russia

OkroshkaCold Russian kvass soup

Name: Okroshka (Cold Russian kvass soup)
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Russian Federation
Ingredients: 2 medium potatoes, boiled in their skins, cooled, peeled and diced; 3 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and diced; 200 g (7 oz) boiled beef or tongue, or plain cooked ham or doctor's sausage, diced; 150 g (5 oz) cucumbers, diced or coarsely grated; 100 g (3.5 oz) radishes, diced or coarsely grated; 4 stalks green onions, finely sliced; 6 sprigs dill, chopped; 1 litre (4 cups) kvass (unsweetened bread kvass) or kefir, very cold; 250 to 300 ml (1 to 1 1/4 cups) sparkling mineral water, only if using kefir; 1 tbsp prepared Russian mustard or grated horseradish, to taste; sour cream (smetana), to serve; salt, to taste

A cold Russian summer soup of diced raw vegetables (cucumber, radish, green onion), potato, boiled egg and cooked meat or sausage in kvass or kefir, with dill, mustard or horseradish and sour cream.

Origin and history

The earliest known okroshka recipe is in Nikolay Osipov's 1790 cookbook: chopped roast meats, onion, cucumber and sour cream, moistened with cucumber brine, kvass or sour cabbage soup. Boiled potatoes appear in recipes from the early 19th century. In the 1960s cooks began adding sausage, and kefir became a popular liquid in the late Soviet era.

Make it at home

Makes: 4 servings
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Hands-on: 30 min

Ingredients

Metric US

2 medium potatoes, boiled in their skins, cooled, peeled and diced
3 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and diced
200 g7 oz boiled beef or tongue, or plain cooked ham or doctor's sausage, diced
150 g5 oz cucumbers, diced or coarsely grated
100 g3.5 oz radishes, diced or coarsely grated
4 stalks green onions, finely sliced
6 sprigs dill, chopped
1 litre4 cups kvass (unsweetened bread kvass) or kefir, very cold
250 to 300 ml1 to 1 1/4 cups sparkling mineral water, only if using kefir
1 tbsp prepared Russian mustard or grated horseradish, to taste
sour cream (smetana), to serve
salt, to taste

Method

1. Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender, about 20 minutes, and the eggs for 10 minutes; cool both completely.
2. Put the green onions and dill in a large bowl with a pinch of salt and press them lightly with a spoon to release their flavour.
3. Add the cucumbers and radishes.
4. Add the diced potatoes, eggs and meat and mix.
5. Chill the bowl for about 1 hour (the solids can wait; the liquid goes in only at serving).
6. At serving time, pour in the cold kvass. With kefir, thin it with the sparkling water until it pours like a light soup.
7. Stir in mustard or horseradish and salt to taste.
8. Ladle into bowls and top with a spoon of sour cream.

Notes

Kvass is the traditional liquid; kefir became popular in the Soviet period, and Russians today are about evenly split between the two. Use unsweetened bread kvass rather than the sweet bottled soft drink, or pour half kvass and half kefir.
Cold is the point: chill the solids and the liquid separately and combine at the last minute so the vegetables stay crisp. Mixed okroshka does not keep well.
An alternative dressing for the kvass version: mash the hard-boiled yolks with mustard and a pinch of salt and add a spoonful to each bowl.
Old recipes used roast meats; boiled potatoes appear in recipes from the early 19th century, and sausage or frankfurters were added in the 1960s. Meat can be boiled beef, boiled pork or chicken, or cooked sausage. An 1862 Lenten version used no meat: cucumbers, mushrooms, apples, potatoes, beets and green beans with a mustard and oil sauce, thinned with kvass or sour cabbage broth.
Belarusian khaladnik, Polish chłodnik and Lithuanian šaltibarščiai are related cold soups from neighbouring countries; they are treated as separate soups.

Adapted from Russia Beyond, Who invented okroshka soup, The Moscow Times, Okroshka for all seasons and tastes, and VkusVill, Okroshka na kvase (recipes on kvass and kefir).