Sour Cucumber Soup

Last time (14.12) I showed you how to prepare a proper chicken stock, which we also serwe as a soup itself. It's very often used as a base for other soups. One of them is sour cucumber soup.

Sour cucumbers, or “cucumbers in brine” are one of the most common ingredients available in many Polish shops, but also in local ones, whose owners realise the presence of the Poles and their needs.

Ingredients:

Chicken stock (if you do not have one, prepare one following the recipe above)
Sour cucumbers (1 jar)
Sour cream: 12 percent (available in Polish shops)
Fresh dill (a bunch)
1 lemon
3-4 potatoes

Preparation:

Bring your chicken stock to boil and reduce it to simmer. Grate the sour cucumbers and add them to the stock. Peel potatoes and chop them into small cubes. Boil them in a separate pan as NOTHING will boil in sour stock!

Add boiled and soft potatoes to the soup. Stir it all and let simmer for next few minutes. Meanwhile, put 3-4 table spoons of sour cream into a separate bowl. Slowly add soup and stir well. NEVER the other way. Once the cream is dissolved, add it all to the soup, stir and let it simmer for next few minutes. Chop dill finely and add to the soup and stir.

If you find the soup too runny, pour cold water into a small jar and add 3-4 table spoons of flower. Place the lid and shake the jar. Open it and start adding the mixture to the soup. Slowly, stirring carefully. Add as much as you want to obtain the density you want. Add the juices from the jar. If not sour enough, add the juice of the squeezed lemon.

Serve hot in a bowl or a deep plate with carrots, potatoes and a lot of grated cucumbers. Store chilled soup in a shady place. Anytime you want to serve it, make sure it’s boiled first, not just heated up. This is the rule regarding all sour soups.

If you still have some of the chicken stock left (do not store it longer than 3 days) you can treat it as a base for yet another type of soup. The recipe to follow.