Sorrel Soup with Spinach and Rice on Vegetable Broth

Name: Sorrel Soup with Spinach and Rice on Vegetable Broth
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Ukrainian cuisine
Ingredients: Sorrel 1 bunch; Spinach 1 bunch; Cream 50 ml; Butter 1 tbsp; Garlic 1-2 cloves; Onion 1; Carrot 1; Potatoes 2; Celery root 1 piece; Fresh ginger 1 piece; Hot chili pepper 1; Rice 2 tbsp; Parsley and dill 4-5 sprigs; Salt, black pepper, dried chili pepper to taste

Homemade sorrel soup can be made in dozens of ways, and the ingredients can vary quite widely. Sorrel soup is an all-season dish and a very healthy one. Sorrel, the base of the soup, keeps well frozen or, the way my grandmother did it, salted in jars and used as needed.

When I was little, my grandmother didn't grow sorrel on purpose — she picked the large leaves of wild meadow sorrel. They are a little coarse, but her sorrel soup or green borscht always turned out superb. Of all our homemade soups, the one we make most often is green borscht, cooked on chicken or meat broth with vegetables. The secret of this borscht is a boiled egg and a knob of butter added at the very end — that's what gives it its unique taste.

Historically, sorrel soup has been considered a village dish and, depending on the region, it may be called green shchi, green borscht, sorrel soup, in Bulgaria — supa ot kiselets, and so on. In North America, sorrel soup has been a traditional dish since the days of the first settlers.

In the vast majority of recipes, sorrel alone is rarely used for the soup. Sorrel leaves are quite sour, which defines the taste of the whole dish. And when cooked, the leaves lose their green color and turn olive. That's why soups usually use sorrel for about half the leaves, while the rest of the greens are spinach, Swiss chard, nettles and even dandelion. These plants don't change color much, so the sorrel soup stays a pleasant green.

A slightly sour sorrel soup with vegetables, cooked on meat broth or with no meat at all, is a tasty and very healthy first course. Thanks to the large amount of greens, which spend hardly any time on the heat, sorrel soup is rich in vitamins.

We made our sorrel soup on a vegetable broth. But we sautéed all the greens for the soup in butter — it improved the taste a lot — and added a little rice. The idea of sautéing greens in butter comes from a grilled fish recipe: it's a great combination for a side dish and, as it turned out, for a soup too. I think you could make this soup with spinach alone or with other greens if you like.

Ingredients

2 servings

Sorrel 1 bunch
Spinach 1 bunch
Cream 50 ml
Butter 1 tbsp
Garlic 1-2 cloves
Onion 1
Carrot 1
Potatoes 2
Celery root 1 piece
Fresh ginger 1 piece
Hot chili pepper 1
Rice 2 tbsp
Parsley and dill 4-5 sprigs
Salt, black pepper, dried chili pepper to taste

Step-by-step recipe

You can make sorrel soup on meat or chicken broth if you prefer, but we decided to use a vegetable stock. For the broth we took the usual vegetables that are always in the fridge — carrot, potatoes, onion, soup roots and a piece of fresh ginger, which you can leave out. But ginger adds a surprising note to the sorrel soup.
Pour 1 l of cold water into a large pot. Peel all the vegetables. Cut the carrot lengthwise into four pieces; leave the peeled onion whole but cut a cross into it. Crush the garlic cloves with the flat of a knife. Cut the potatoes into large chunks. Put all the vegetables into the water and set the pot on the heat. Add a piece of peeled celery root to the broth (you can also add parsnip and parsley root if you like), along with a whole piece of peeled ginger.
Bring the broth to a boil and add 1–2 whole dried chili pods. Many people assume that dried chili will make the soup fiery. That's something of a misconception. The heat of the soup will barely change, the chili will be right on the edge of perception, but the aroma will be incredible. Simmer the vegetable broth for 30 mins.
As I said, to keep the soup green we'll add spinach leaves along with the sorrel — roughly half and half. Fresh greens are best, but out of season frozen or salted ones will do. Sort through the leaves carefully, wash them and remove the stems.
Melt the butter in a small frying pan. Chop the sorrel and spinach leaves, not too finely. Sauté the greens in the butter for 1–2 mins.
You can clearly see that the sorrel has turned olive, while the spinach has hardly changed color. Add a little cream to the sautéed greens and stir. Take the pan off the heat right away.
Remove the softened onion, ginger and soup roots from the broth — you can throw them away. Add the rice to the broth — just a little, literally a couple of tablespoons. Stir the soup and cook the rice for at least 15 mins, until tender.
As soon as the rice is done, add the fresh chili pepper, carefully cleaned and finely chopped with a knife, then season the soup with salt and black pepper to taste. Add the sorrel and spinach sautéed in butter.
Cook for another 3–4 mins, then take off the heat and let the soup stand for 5 mins. Meanwhile, pick all the leaves off the parsley and dill sprigs and chop them finely with a knife. You can add the chopped herbs to the sorrel soup right away or straight into the bowls.
Ladle the soup into bowls while it's still hot and serve. It's important that the soup doesn't cool down: with the cream and butter in it, sorrel soup sets as it cools.
If you like, you can make the soup on a chicken broth from a whole chicken or on pork ribs. Once the meat is cooked, set it aside, strain the broth and carry on making the sorrel soup as in the recipe; put the meat into the bowls before serving and ladle the soup over it.