White Borscht Soup

Name: White Borscht Soup (Żurek)
Cuisine: Polish
Ingredients: 1 celeriac, roughly chopped; 3 carrots, roughly chopped; 1 leek, roughly chopped; 1 onion; 2 parsley sprigs; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 4 bay leaves; 1.2 litres/2 pints/5 cups water; 5-6 dried wild mushrooms, rinsed and soaked in warm water for 30 minutes; 5-6 dried wild mushrooms, rinsed and soaked in warm water for 30 minutes; 4 small boiled potatoes, cubed; 2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters; salt and ground black pepper, to taste; salt and ground black pepper, to taste; chopped fresh marjoram or dill, to garnish; chopped fresh marjoram or dill, to garnish; 50 g/2 oz/2 cups rye flour; 1 rye-bread crust

Żurek

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Food and Cooking of Poland

By Ewa Michalik

Published 2008

About

This light, sour soup is made from a fermented rye flour mixture, which needs to be prepared several days before you want to make the soup.

Ingredients

1 celeriac, roughly chopped
3 carrots, roughly chopped
1 leek, roughly chopped

Europe
Poland
Eastern Europe
Soup
Vegetarian

Method

To make the white borscht, put the rye flour in a large, heatproof bowl and stir in enough boiling water until the flour forms a thin paste. Leave it to cool, then add 1.2 litres/2 pints/5 cups lukewarm water and the bread crust.
Transfer to a lar