Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Solyanka: Ukranian Soup


Who knew there was another Ukranian soup besides borscht? I have been Ukranian all my life and just found out about this soup last Friday. A visit to a Ukranian restaurant and an adventurous boyfriend yielded this new treasure - I never would have ordered this myself (pickles in soup?!) but it was a revelation. It's richly flavoured, hearty stick-to-your ribs kind of fare yet only 87 calories per cup (after some Sherylyn-ifying). Perfect comfort food in this gray, drizzly weather! I used a combination of red and yellow beets, but next time I would just use yellow. The one red beet in there coloured everything bright red. Show off.

Solyanka

250g low-fat ham, 1/2" cubes
150g turkey kolbassa, 1/2" cubes
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium potato, 1/2" cubes
3 medium beets, preferably yellow, 1/2" cubes
1C chopped onion
4C shredded cabbage
1L low-sodium chicken broth
1L water
1 can crushed tomatoes
4 medium-sized dill pickles, halved and sliced, plus 1/4C brine
1T capers
1T dried dill or 2T fresh

Put a large pot over high heat and add chicken broth, water, tomatoes, pickles, brine, capers, potato and beets. Heat to boiling, then turn heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, heat oil in a large skillet and sautee onion, ham, and kolbassa until lightly browned. Add the ham mixture, dill and the shredded cabbage to the broth and comtinue to simmer for another 30 minutes, until vegetables are soft.

Serve with a dollop of low-fat plain yogurt and chopped fresh dill. Easy peasy, and so satisfying!

Nutritional info per cup: 87 calories, 1.6g of fat, 7g protein, 12g carbs, 2.3g fibre, 636mg sodium.

Sherylyn's tip of the day: How to remove beets stains from clothing: Roll item in question into a tight ball. Shove angrily into a garbage bag and toss. Heh just kidding, my mom is really good at removing stains so I'd just give it to her. The rest of you are on your own.

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