Pink Summer Soup

Passport & Plate - Pink Cold Soup

Lithuania | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
300g pickled beetroots, sliced
2-3 hard boiled eggs, chopped or cut into halves depending on your esthetic preferences.
1 cucumber, sliced
500g creme fraiche (or very fat yoghurt, the fattest you can find)
1l kefir (buttermilk or ayran should work too)
bunch of spring onion, chopped (if you can find it in the worst case add a bit of onion, but really just a tiny bit and finely chopped)
handful of fresh dill, chopped (if fresh dill is not accessible, then forget it, the dry one wouldn't help)
pinch of salt
Note
Knowing that pickled beetroot is not very popular item in shelves of some countries you can use boiled beetroot and one teaspoon of vinegar. And if you have some beets growing in your garden you can indeed use fresh leaves instead. As long as you get that bright pink color.
If you prefer to have thinner consistence add some boiled cooled water or marinate from the pickles. Also the proportions of creme fraiche and kefir can be adjusted. So few ingredients and still room for improvisation.

 

How to prepare this recipe
It is one of those recipes where nothing can go wrong. All you need to do is mix the ingredients and let it rest for some minutes until all the flavors unite. Or just eat immediately.

 

The story behind this recipe
I don't speak Farsi nor German. But I know very well how to say beetroot in many languages.
It was in Iran we walked hours in the city trying to find the red root. I was ready to starve for few more hours and cook the beetroots myself instead of using the pickled version. But that day luck was hiding from me. Double checking every shelf in one of the dozen of the shops visited that evening and not losing hope to see a jar containing beets. I had reached the point when I didn't want to believe my eyes, I thought they trick me. But there was no result. I gave up and decided to go for the fresh beet. I just forgot one small detail, I was not in Europe where any fruit and vegetables are available all year round. "Beetroot? Yes, I know, the season starts in two weeks." It was the only time when I didn't manage to prepare the pink soup while being in a foreign country.
I always try to stay with locals when traveling and when it is possible I love to cook for them. Cold pink soup. In Lithuania we eat it in the summer time, for it is very refreshing and light. Yes, we also have warm summers in Lithuania. This dish represents my homeland, but I chose to share it with others because it is not only a treat for stomach, it is also something amusing and scary at the same time. Not everyone dares to taste. Some are suspicious about the beetroot itself, some can't understand how is it possible to use cucumber in such combination, for some it reminds children's medicine. "It looks like an alien's puke". "It has radioactive color". But I think it teaches not to judge by appearance. And even the most cautious soup eaters often ask for the second scoop.