The Czech Republic is definetly a country of soups. Being a Czech kid you hear on every occasion that if you don’t eat that soup you will never grow. So we eat soups. Soup on every festive menu, soup as the first course of your daily lunch and a soup as a main dish. We eat soups a lot.
There is one rule to prepare a true Czech soup: Always serve the soup boiling HOT. My granddaddy used to eat soup while it was still almost boiling. How could he eat soup that hot is beyond me.
Kulajda is one of the traditional Czech soups that is still cooked regularly at home and you can also try some refined variations at fine dining restaurants.
I start with dried mushrooms. A mixture of forest mushrooms provides the best and very intensive taste. I put them into a saucepan with water, bring them to boil and cook them for 5 minutes until they are soft. I check the mushrooms if they are soft enough. When done, I take out the mushrooms and rinse them well with cold water. I don’t use the mushroom broth in this case as I want the soup to be really white.
Now I put mushrooms, halved onion, bay leaves, black pepper, allspice, cumin, lovage, salt and 2 litres of water into a pot. I bring it to a boil and cook it for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile I mix flour, sour cream and a little bit of cold water and I pour this mixture through sieve into the soup. I have to whisk it and bring to a boil again. Then I add potatoes and cook them for another 10 minutes untill they are soft.
I flavor the soup with vinegar, salt and I add also eggs. Sometimes I cook eggs like poached eggs (Crack the egg into a cup and then gently slide it into the soup.) and another time I just pour beaten eggs into the soup and mix them with fork.
I put dill into the soup just before serving so the taste is really strong. Ready to serve.
Kulajda - Czech White Soup with Mushrooms, Potatoes and Dill
Ingredients
- 1 handful dried mushrooms
- 1 piece onion peeled
- 2 pieces bay leaves
- 5 pieces black peppercorns
- 5 pieces allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon Caraway Seeds
- 2 twigs lovage
- salt
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 500 ml sour cream
- 4 pieces potatoes bigger, peeled, cut into small cubes
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 4-6 eggs
- 1 bundle dill small bundle