Sorrel soup

(aka shchavel borscht or shchavel soup)

Sorrel is a herb with leaves of gently sour taste. And sorrel soup reminds me of dacha (summerhouse), summer and rainy days in early autumn. In Russia sorrel is usually cultivated by people in their own gardens, once I’ve seen a bunch of it for sale in a market, but I’ve never bought it as I grow my own – it’s simple because sorrel is an easy-care plant.

Sorrel soup is very light, has pleasant slightly sour taste and the recipe is very easy & quick to cook. Somehow most of my compatriots tend to boil eggs separately and dice them. I hate smell of boiled eggs and I wonder, why should one waste time boiling eggs, when one can use perfect Asian method that allows reducing cooking time twice?

Ingredients (for a 5 l. pot):

• 180 g of onion
• 2-3 tbsp of flavorless oil
• 700 g of potatoes
• 3,5 tsp of salt
• 0,5 tsp of freshly grounded black pepper, you can mix it with allspice (=Jamaica pymenta or myrtle pepper)
• 2,5 l of water
• 5 big-sized eggs
• 300 g of sorrel

Also you may make your sorrel soup more nutritious with:

• 50 g of any white rice
• 200-300 g of chicken fillet

These ingredients will require +0,5 tsp of salt and they should be added in Step 3. Generally I omit them and use only the main list of ingredients.

Instructions

1. Peel and wash onions and potatoes. Soak sorrel in water for 10 min. to get rid of all dirt.

2. Mince onion, pour oil in a pot (I use steel pot that allows frying) and fry onion at medium heat until it becomes transparent.

3. Dice potatoes, turn on high heat, add potatoes, water, salt and pepper to the onion. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer sorrel soup for 15 min.

4. Meanwhile prepare eggs and sorrel: break eggshell and pour eggs in a bowl / glass. Mix eggs with a fork, so the mixture becomes homogeneous. Take sorrel out of water, shake drops off and cut leaves and stalks.

5. Uncover the pot and turn on medium heat. Take glass with eggs in one hand and a kitchen spoon in the other. Start whirling the soup with a spoon. Without stopping whirling process slowly pour eggs in soup.

6. Add sorrel and mix the soup. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer sorrel soup for 1-2 min. Turn the stove off and leave sorrel soup to rest for a while (10-15 min).