cold beet soup 4 a heatwave

to trust the PROCESS is to trust my dad

Jun 23, 2024

Gazpacho need move over, because there’s another cold soup in town!!!!

~holodnik~

It’s an eastern european cold beet soup that my dad almost always has a pot of in the fridge during the summer time. It’s the perfect refreshing grab and go lunch or snack when you can’t be bothered to cook. Which for me is literally every day of summer.

And before I lose you, let me try to describe the flavors going on here:

The base is ultimately just 2 ingredients: kefir and shredded cooked beets.
- The kefir gives it a cold and refreshing hit while the beets are slightly sweet and give a great touch of sweetness and slurpy texture.
- You can find kefir at almost any grocery store by the yogurt, even trader joes!!! You may have just never looked for it!!
Everything really comes together in the add-ons of it all
- Sliced cucumber, green onion, dill, radish, hard boiled egg and boiled gold potatoes on the side

You can omit the potato if you don’t want to fuss with anything warm BUT it’s my favorite part of the dish. A slightly warm potato, with the contrast of the icy cold creamy soup. It is genuinely making my mouth water describing it. So take a chance and try this out!!! You can even halve the recipe to make a smaller batch to not waste if you’re unsure.

Before you start:

virtually everything can be prepped ahead of time - either the night before or just the morning of if you plan to eat it for lunch!
- the beets take about an hour to boil and then need time to fully cool
- the eggs take 10 min to boil
- baby potatoes take about 15 min to boil
- add-ons can be prepared and stored in the fridge for the week too.

pops holodnik:

makes about 4 bowls

32 oz kefir
3 medium raw beets
about 1 cup of cold water (or more) OR sparkling water (I prefer regular, but my dad likes sparkling)
salt + freshly cracked black pepper to taste

add-ons:

3 persian cucumbers diced, for serving
small bunch of dill, finely chopped
4 green onions, thinly sliced
5 eggs, hard boiled
4 radish, thinly sliced or diced
1 lb baby gold potatoes
olive oil to garnish

for the beets: remove the stems (leaving a small knob intact so the color doesn’t fully bleed), wash and lightly scrub them to remove any dirt. place in a medium saucepan with cold water just covering them and bring to a boil over medium high. once boiling, bring down to medium low and simmer for about 30-40 min depending on the size of the beets. they should be fork tender. drain them, and allow to cool for a few minutes. then place them under cool water and rub the skins off with your fingers. at this point you can store the beets in the fridge until they’re cold and ready to shred. you don’t want to add warm beets to the soup!!!! once they’re cool, use the biggest holes on a box shredder to shred the beets.
for the eggs: bring another pot of water to boil, carefully drop in eggs and cook for 10 minutes. peel and store until ready to use.
for the potatoes: place potatoes in a pot of heavily salted water and cover with water. bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft and fork tender, about 15 minutes, depending on size. drain and once cool enough to handle, peel the skins off if you like (I do) sprinkle with fresh chopped dill and a little drizzle of olive oil.
for the soup: into a large bowl, add the shredded beets, kefir, salt to taste (you’ll need more than you think!) and fresh cracked pepper. depending on the consistency you like, add cold water until you reach your desirable level. I like mine with about 1 cup of water, but add as you go and see how you like it! my dad likes to add sparkling water, but I haven’t tried it like that so you could always test it out in a small bowl before commiting to the full pot!
to serve: top with a little bit of each topping, a drizzle of olive oil, freshly cracked black pepper and some potatoes on the side! you can also add a few ice cubes to keep the soup extra cold as you eat it. to eat, take a piece of potato and dip into the cold soup with each topping on your spoon. yum yum slurpaliciously goooooood!

stay safe out in these heat wave y’all and let me know if you try this!!!!!