Buckwheat Soup with Beef – Homemade Recipe
When I was little, my grandmother often made buckwheat soup. Buckwheat could be hard to come by back then, but in the village there was always some – people grew it and then toasted it as needed. The soup was cooked on a chicken or meat broth, although there were vegetable versions too. As a rule, it is a fairly light dish, served as part of lunch or dinner.
Soups with buckwheat are typical of Ukrainian and Belarusian cooking, and they are made in many different ways, using whatever produce is typical of the area. The meat broth can be pork or beef. Bones are often used for it, since they give a good rich stock, or ribs – those are especially tasty. In Belarus, buckwheat soup is often finished with milk.
The dish starts with a rich, full-bodied meat broth. Roots and spices are rarely added to it – just a bay leaf and a whole onion. That is how my grandmother did it. Sometimes the onion is not even peeled, and the soup turns out very dark – that is a matter of taste. Then potatoes are cooked in the broth, the buckwheat goes in, and finally the vegetables fried in oil – carrot, onion, parsnip – and the seasonings.
A clove of crushed garlic, added shortly before the end of cooking, gives the soup a really pleasant flavor. And of course, there are always fresh herbs – parsley and dill. Buckwheat soup is at its best served with dark rye bread, especially if you toast it first in a hot dry skillet. I remember from childhood how at home the soup was finished with almost dry pork cracklings and served with potatoes baked in their jackets.
Buy toasted buckwheat – it is sold brown in color. They say raw “green” buckwheat is healthier, but I have never made soup with it. Good buckwheat has large, whole (not broken) kernels and a faint pleasant smell.
When we made this soup at home, we decided to cook the broth from beef brisket. It makes a rich, aromatic broth – that is how we make it for kharcho soup. Someone once told me that a broth made from smoked pork ribs makes buckwheat soup simply unbeatable. Give it a try – you might like it. By the way, the soup does not need much meat; let the buckwheat itself take center stage.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Beef brisket 300 g
- Buckwheat 0.5 cup
- Potatoes 1-2
- Carrot 1
- Onion 2
- Garlic 1-2 cloves
- Parsnip optional
- Vegetable oil 1 tbsp
- Salt, black pepper, bay leaf to taste
- Pork cracklings, baked potatoes optional
- Dill, parsley for serving
Step-by-step recipe
- Buckwheat soup is at its tastiest when the broth is done well. This is the most important stage of the preparation. Take a piece of beef brisket with a little fat and a bone. Alternatively, you can make the broth with ribs – they have plenty of meat on them. Once the ribs are cooked, the bones come away easily and can be discarded.
- Pour 6 cups of cold water into a pot and add the meat. Bring the water to a boil. Foam will definitely form; skim it off with a spoon. Then reduce the heat and add a whole peeled onion and 2-3 bay leaves. Simmer the meat broth, covered, for about 1 hour.
- Discard the overcooked onion and the bay leaves from the finished broth. Take out the meat and remove the bone or cartilage. Cut the meat into cubes and return it to the broth. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Add the potatoes to the broth and cook for about 10 mins.
- To make the buckwheat soup more aromatic, you can lightly toast the buckwheat in a hot dry skillet, without burning it. As soon as it gives off a pleasant nutty smell, add the buckwheat to the pot of broth. Stir and bring the broth to a boil. Peel the carrot, parsnip and onion. Slice the onion into thin strips, and grate the roots on a coarse grater or cut them into cubes. Fry the vegetables in 1 tbsp of vegetable oil until soft and golden.
- Add the fried vegetables to the soup and bring to a boil. Crush or chop the garlic with a little salt. When the potatoes start to break down a little, they will thicken the soup. By this time all the vegetables will be cooked. Add the garlic and salt to the soup and season with black pepper – all to taste. Cook for another 5-6 mins. Then turn off the heat and let the soup stand for 5 more mins. Overall, it will take a little over 20 mins from the moment you add the buckwheat.
- To serve the soup, I suggest finely chopping fresh dill and parsley. It is very tasty with a little sliced green onion and 1 tbsp of pork cracklings fried until dry. And, as a childhood memory, you can add 1-2 baked potatoes along with a slice of fresh dark rye bread.
- Buckwheat soup can also be made on a mushroom broth – that makes it a vegetarian version. Dumplings or halushky made from plain unleavened dough are sometimes added to such soups. By the way, you can add mushrooms while frying the vegetables.
| Yield: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 70 |
| Prep: | 1 h |
| Cook: | 30 mins |
| Ready in: | 1 h 30 mins |
| Category: | Soups |
| Cuisine: | European |
| Rating: |
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4.7
(3)
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