Sweet, spicy or sour, on kvass, wine or ayran – almost every culinary tradition offers us its own versions of cold summer soups. They can be served as an original dessert or first course, and in terms of their “antipyretic” effect, they simply do not know their equal.
In summer, you usually want to eat much less than in winter: in the heat, our body loses moisture, and therefore we strive to replenish its reserves in the first place, absorbing liters of juices and mineral water, tea and lemonade. For this reason, summer is a great time to review your diet: liquid creates the illusion of fullness and makes it easier to tolerate changes in diet. However, even if you are really going to lose weight, you should not get too carried away: trying to replace food with drink to the maximum, instead of the expected ease, we risk getting digestive problems and anemia. In this situation, the best way out is cold and light summer soups. Sweet, spicy or sour, on kvass, juice, beetroot broth or ayran, they satisfy hunger and thirst at the same time. They can be served as a first course or an original dessert, they do not overload the body with calories and contain all the necessary vitamins and minerals.
Speaking of cold soups, most often we mean kvass okroshka. It is understandable: it is this version of the holodnik that is most typical of the Russian culinary tradition. The choice of “fillers” depends solely on the individual taste preferences of the cook, but nowadays kvass is mostly used ready-made: either nostalgic “draughty” or all kinds of “kvass drinks” produced in abundance by beer and soda producers. Both of these save time, but do not give a truly authentic okroshka taste. It is possible to achieve it only when using kvass made by oneself. This is not difficult. Cut a loaf of rye bread into small pieces and cook fried crackers in the oven. Pour them with 5 liters of boiling water and leave to cool to about 30-40 degrees. Mash the mass with your hands or a pestle, add 2 cups of sugar and an incomplete teaspoon of dry yeast, mix, cover with cheesecloth and leave for 3-4 days in a warm place (if you like kvass to be sourer, you can wait another day). Strain the resulting drink, pour into jars and refrigerate. Do not throw away the remaining thick: next time it will replace your yeast starter and make the taste of kvass thicker and richer.
In general, the basis of cold soup is very dependent on the specifics of the region in which it originated. “Bread” Russia has become the birthplace of the cold drink on cereal kvass. Inhabitants of livestock areas prefer soups made with sour milk: ayran, yoghurt or curdled milk. Residents of countries with developed agriculture prefer summer soups cooked with vegetable broth or juice (for example, Lithuanian cold beetroot or Spanish tomato gazpacho). But the inhabitants of the wine-growing regions use as the basis for summer soups … yes, yes, wine! The simplest option is practiced by the peasants of the Georgian region of Kakheti: there they mix red wine with spring water, add spices and a crumb of white bread. However, there are also more refined forms of alcoholic cold drinks: for example, the French cook fruit dessert soup with wine. To do this, they stew in red wine, mixed with water in a ratio of one to one, peeled sweet pears. When the pears become soft, they need to be mashed in a blender, diluted to the desired consistency with the wine mixture, add sugar to taste, cool and serve for dessert, decorating each plate with a spoonful of whipped cream and sprinkled with cinnamon.
However, despite the differences, all holodniks without exception have one thing in common. Whatever ingredients go into a summer soup, it’s based on the idea of freshness. Agree, in the scorching heat, few pictures can compare in attractiveness with a plate of ice crispy okroshka or tarator. To succumb to the temptation and enjoy the taste of a fragrant and light cold drink means, at least for a while, to create a real oasis around yourself and your companions. And this effect is not at all as ephemeral as it might seem: even after the physical sensation dissipates, when you remember the pleasure you have experienced, you will still feel a refreshing breath of coolness for a long time.
Recipe from the magazine “Gastronom”
For 6 persons. Cooking time: 15 min.
Bulgarian tarator
- 1 liter of kefir or natural yogurt;
- 6 medium cucumbers;
- 6 large cloves of garlic;
- 0,5 cup peeled and finely chopped walnuts, cilantro, salt and pepper to taste.
Remove skin and seeds from cucumbers. Crush the nuts in a mortar along with garlic, pepper and salt. Chop the greens very finely. Put all the products in a saucepan, pour cold kefir or yogurt and stir. Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to firm up the soup.