Ingredients
Soup
- 500 gbeetroot, whole and unpeeled
- 1 litrekefir, well chilled
- 200 mlsour cream
- 2cucumbers, about 300 g, cut into fine matchsticks
- 4spring onions, thinly sliced
- 30 gdill, finely chopped
- 3eggs, hard-boiled and halved
- 1.5 tspfine salt
- 1 tbsplemon juice or white vinegar
- ½ tspblack pepper
To serve
- 800 gnew potatoes, boiled in their skins and served hot
- 1 tbspbutter
- Extra dill
Directions
- Boil the whole unpeeled beetroot in water with a splash of vinegar for 40–50 minutes, until a knife slides in easily. Cooking them whole and unpeeled keeps the colour in the beet instead of in the water.
- Cool, slip off the skins under running water, and grate on the coarse side of a box grater or cut into fine matchsticks. Lithuanians argue about grated versus julienned; both are traditional.
- Toss the beetroot with the lemon juice and half a teaspoon of salt and leave 10 minutes. The acid fixes the colour and stops the kefir turning brownish.
- Whisk the cold kefir and sour cream together in a large bowl until completely smooth, with no lumps of cream.
- Fold in the beetroot. The soup will turn its characteristic shocking fuchsia pink almost instantly.
- Add the cucumber matchsticks, spring onion and dill, then season with the remaining salt and the pepper. Thin with a little cold water or more kefir if it is thicker than pouring cream.
- Chill at least 1 hour, and preferably 3. Šaltibarščiai must be served properly cold, at fridge temperature, and it tastes flat if it is even slightly warm.
- Boil the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes until tender, drain, toss with butter and dill, and keep them hot.
- Ladle the soup into cold bowls, top each with half a hard-boiled egg, and serve with the hot buttered potatoes in a separate dish on the side. The contrast of ice-cold soup and steaming potatoes is the whole idea.
Technique
- The potatoes are served hot and separate, never in the bowl. Dropping them into the soup warms it and ruins the point.
- Kefir, or the traditional soured milk kefyras, gives the right thin, tangy body. Yogurt alone is too thick and too sour, buttermilk too thin.
- Do not use pickled beetroot from a jar unless it is unspiced: vinegar with cloves or juniper throws the flavour completely.
- The colour is a national talking point. Lithuania declared šaltibarščiai a culinary heritage dish and holds an annual Pink Soup Festival in Vilnius.
Substitutions
- Pre-cooked vacuum-packed beetroot works well and saves an hour, but rinse it and check it is not vinegared.
- No kefir: use 700 ml buttermilk and 300 ml plain yogurt whisked together.
- Radishes can replace some of the cucumber for extra bite.
Variations
- A version using the strained juice of fermented beets, the older and sharper style.
- Šaltibarščiai with grated fresh horseradish stirred in.
- A Belarusian and Polish cousin, chłodnik, made with beet leaves as well as roots.
History
Bright pink cold soup of kefir and beetroot eaten all summer; Vilnius has held an annual pink soup festival celebrating it since 2022.
Frequently asked questions
What is Šaltibarščiai?
Šaltibarščiai is a soup & stew from Lithuania: shocking-pink cold beet-kefir soup with hot potatoes. Bright pink cold soup of kefir and beetroot eaten all summer; Vilnius has held an annual pink soup festival celebrating it since 2022.
How long does Šaltibarščiai take to make?
Šaltibarščiai takes 25 min of preparation and 1 hr chilling of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Šaltibarščiai?
Yes, within limits. Pre-cooked vacuum-packed beetroot works well and saves an hour, but rinse it and check it is not vinegared. No kefir: use 700 ml buttermilk and 300 ml plain yogurt whisked together. Radishes can replace some of the cucumber for extra bite.
What is the most important thing to get right in Šaltibarščiai?
Boil the whole unpeeled beetroot in water with a splash of vinegar for 40–50 minutes, until a knife slides in easily. Cooking them whole and unpeeled keeps the colour in the beet instead of in the water.
