Recipe: Aukstá Zupa, Latvian Pink Soup
By Joe Bender
Late last month, the little Baltic country of Latvia celebrated its most important national holiday: the summer solstice celebration of Līgo. Līgo (pronounced "leegwa") is a pagan tradition that has endured through the country’s many occupations. It is a simple holiday, celebrated even more prominently than Christmas (when Latvians celebrate the shortest night by wearing flower and leaf crowns, heading out to the countryside, lighting a fire, drinking lots and lots of beer and staying up all night to greet the rising sun).
Aukstā Zupa, which means “pink soup” in Latvian, is a very common dish throughout the country on these hot summer days. It’s a colorful feast of favorite summer ingredients. It can be assembled in one bowl or served as a buffet, with all the ingredients in separate dishes, so that each person can assemble their own soup to taste. Sometimes the soup is served with all ingredients grated finely; other times the ingredients are chunky. Your call! It’s incredibly refreshing and healthy. This recipe, adapted from Co-op member Samara Chadwick’s favorite version, serves six to eight people and can be scaled up or down to suit your needs. Feel free to omit or substitute ingredients based on what you have in the fridge.
Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes, cooked and peeled
4 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1 cucumber
4-6 dill pickles
Radishes
Chives or scallions
2 cups pickled beets grated (if store bought) or see recipe below
1 bunch dill
1/2 gallon kefir (or 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt thinned with 1/2 cup milk)
1/2 teaspoon horseradish
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Cut the cucumbers, pickles and radishes into short, thin strips. Finely slice the potatoes and eggs. Finely chop the scallions or chives and the dill. Chop or grate the pickled beets if they are not already grated. Reserve the beet brine.
If you’re serving the soup in one large bowl, combine the kefir and beet brine in the bowl, add the horseradish and mustard, and whisk thoroughly. Add the cucumbers, pickles, radishes, potatoes, beets, chives/scallions and half the chopped egg and half the chopped dill. Reserve the other halves for garnish. Let sit for 20 minutes.
Serve the soup sprinkled with the remaining chopped egg and dill. Alternately, arrange all the ingredients in individual dishes and invite your guests to assemble their own soups in their bowl as they please.
PICKLED BEETS:
Ingredients:
About 2 lbs of beets
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 cloves
4 allspice berries
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon caraway seeds + cinnamon bark
3-4 tablespoons 9 percent vinegar
4 cups water
Directions:
Boil the beets until soft. Cool until you can peel them easily. Slice finely, julienne or grate coarsely. Bring the water to a boil and add all the spices except the vinegar and cumin. Boil for five to ten minutes. Strain through a sieve, then add the vinegar.
Place the grated beets in jars, sprinkle with cumin, and fill with the hot brine. Cover the jars and turn upside-down for one hour. The beets will keep for many weeks (especially if you’ve boiled the jars!) but they will also be ready to use for Aukstā Zupa within a few hours. Remember to save the pickling brine for the soup!