Okroshka

Ingredients

Base, choose one

• 1.5 litrescold kvass
• or 1 litre kefir with 500 ml cold water
• or 1 litre whey

Vegetables

• 4potatoes, boiled and diced
• 3cucumbers, diced
• 8radishes, diced
• 6spring onions
• 1large bunch dill
• 1 bunchparsley

Protein

• 300 gboiled ham, sausage or beef, diced
• 5eggs, hard-boiled and diced

To finish

• 200 mlsour cream
• 1 tbspmustard
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 tbspvinegar or lemon juice

To serve

• ice cubes
• extra dill

Directions

1. Cut everything to the same small dice, about 5 mm, so a spoonful picks up a little of each thing. Choose your base and know that Russians argue about this: kvass is the traditional one, kefir the modern one, and whey the old village one.
2. Boil the potatoes in their skins, then cool and peel them before dicing.
3. Cook and cool the potatoes and eggs well in advance, because warm ingredients ruin a cold soup. Everything must be properly cold before it goes in the bowl. Dice the cucumbers, radishes, meat and eggs.
4. Chop the spring onions and put them in a bowl with a good pinch of salt, then crush them with a pestle or the end of a rolling pin. Crushing the onion with salt is a real Russian step and it matters: it draws out the juice and takes away the raw harshness, and the released juice flavours the whole soup.
5. Chop the dill finely and add most of it. Mash a couple of the egg yolks with the sour cream and the mustard into a smooth paste. Mashing yolks into the sour cream is what gives okroshka its body, and it stops the cream sitting in lumps.
6. Combine everything and season with salt, pepper and a little vinegar or lemon. Taste it cold, because cold dulls seasoning and a soup that tastes right warm will taste flat chilled. Now chill it for at least an hour before serving.
7. Serve very cold with ice cubes in the bowl, more dill and a spoonful of sour cream. It is summer food, eaten when it is too hot to want anything warm, and it is made in quantity and kept in the fridge.

Technique

• Use unsweetened bread kvass, not the sweet bottled soft drink, which makes an unpleasant soup.
• Ayran or tan work as well as kefir for the dairy version.
• It is best on the day it is made, because the cucumbers soften overnight.

Substitutions

• Kefir thinned with cold water and a little sparkling water.
• Any boiled meat, or none at all.

Variations

• Made with kefir rather than kvass.
• Vegetarian, with no meat.
• With boiled beef tongue, which is a richer version.

History

A cold soup, its base traditionally built on kvass, a fermented rye bread drink, or more recently kefir or buttermilk, mixed with chopped raw vegetables, boiled egg and often cooked meat or sausage, developed in Russian cooking as a specifically refreshing summer dish, valued for being served cold rather than hot during Russia’s warmer months. Its use of kvass as a soup base reflects that fermented drink’s much broader role in traditional Russian cooking beyond simply being consumed on its own, and different Russian regions and households vary in whether kvass, kefir or another base liquid is preferred, without one being treated as more correct than the others. Okroshka remains closely associated specifically with Russian summer eating rather than a year-round dish.

Frequently asked questions

What is Okroshka?

Okroshka is a soup & stew from Russia: cold kvass soup with vegetables, egg, ham. A cold soup, its base traditionally built on kvass, a fermented rye bread drink, or more recently kefir or buttermilk, mixed with chopped raw vegetables, boiled egg and often cooked meat or sausage, developed in Russian cooking as a specifically refreshing summer dish, valued for being served cold rather than hot during Russia’s warmer months. Its use of kvass as a soup base reflects that fermented drink’s much broader role in traditional Russian cooking beyond simply being consumed on its own, and different Russian regions and households vary in whether kvass, kefir or another base liquid is preferred, without one being treated as more correct than the others. Okroshka remains closely associated specifically with Russian summer eating rather than a year-round dish.

How long does Okroshka take to make?

Okroshka takes 30 min plus chilling of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Okroshka?

Yes, within limits. Kefir thinned with cold water and a little sparkling water. Any boiled meat, or none at all.

What is the most important thing to get right in Okroshka?

Cook and cool the potatoes and eggs well in advance, because warm ingredients ruin a cold soup. Everything must be properly cold before it goes in the bowl. Dice the cucumbers, radishes, meat and eggs.