Serbian Fisherman's Soup

Ingredients:

• 500g. small greshwater fish
• 1/2l. water
• 2 onions
• 1 paprika
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 200-300g. sterlet or catfish
• 1tbsp. tomato puree's
• 1dl. white wine
• salt and pepper

Fisherman's soup in Serbia is known as riblja čorba and this recipe originates from the Hungarian cuisine. Here are the directions for preparing:

Clean small fish, wash, cut into halves, add chopped onion and garlic, paprika's cut into bigger strips, sprigs of parsley. Pour in cold water and simmer until all is tender. Pass through a sieve, add tomato, salt, pepper, bring to the boil again and then add pieces of sterlet or catfish. Pour in white wine and simmer for another 20 minutes.

Serbian Fisherman's Soup

Thick soup with sweetcorn

Ingredients:

• 3 young corncobs
• 250g. smoked pork ribs
• 1-2 tbsp. vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• peppercorns
• caraway seeds
• marjoram
• 1 bayleaf
• 2 onions and 2 cloves of garlic
• 200g. potatoes
• 1dl. milk
• 2 tbsp. lard

Put the following into 1l. cold water: 1 teaspoon of salt, a few peppercorns, a bayleaf, a pinch of varaway seeds and of marjoram, a peeled and halved onion and peeled cloves of garlic. Water with spices should be cooked 10-15 minutes and then cooled. 

Wash pork ribs well, cut into pieces and put into the cold marinade to stand overnight. Fry chopped onion in lard the following day, add ribs from the marinade. Peel and dice potatoes, husk and crush sweetcorn, add everything to onion and ribs and cook slowly for a while. Pour in milk and strained marinade and simmer until all is tender.

Thick soup with sweetcorn

Thick soup with leeks and cheese

Ingredients:

• 500g. leeks
• 50g. butter
• 40g. flour
• 2dl. cold and 8dl. warm water
• 80g. kashkaval
• 2 eggs
• 1dl. thick yoghurt
• salt
• 1tbsp. chopped celery leaf

Trim leeks, wash, cut into thinner rounds, wash again and drain. Heat butter, add leeks, cook slowly until slightly soft, add flour, fry together until brown, pour in cold and then warm water. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

Towards the end of cooking add grated or crushed cheese. Beat egg yolks well with thick yoghurt, add some soup, mix and add to the ready soup. Before serving add celery and salt to taste.

Thick soup with leeks and cheese

Thick soup with squash

Ingredients:

• 700g. pared squash
• 60g. butter or margarine
• 15g. flour
• 1-1.5l. milk
• 50g. young kaymak or 1/2dl. sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon red paprika pepper
• salt

Cut pared squash into small cubes, cook in mildly salted water. Heat about 40g. butter or margarine, add flour, fry it a little, slowly pouring in warm milk, cook, add kaymak or sour cream, simmer about 10 minutes, add cooked squash, then cook together for a short while (5 minutes).

Before serving, pour over the soupp heated butter (about 20g.) with some red paprika pepper added to it.

Thick soup with squash

Chicken liver dumplings

Ingredients:

• 1 small spoon butter or lard
• 1 bigger chicken liver
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp breadcrumbs
• parsley leaves
• salt and pepper

Mix butter or lard well, add finely chopped or scrapped liver 1 egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, chopped parsley and 1 whipped egg white. Mix all well and leave to stand for a while. Bring soup to thr boil, turn the heat down, take up bit by bit of the prepared mixture with teaspoon and dip into the simmering soup. When the dumplings emerge to the surface, let them simmer, for a further 5-7 minutes. Chopped parsley can also be added to the soup.

Chicken liver dumplings

Bean Jahni soup

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of dry white beans
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped mint
• salt, chili powder

Boil beans in hot water in an uncovered pot for 5 minutes. Rinse and boil for another 15 minutes in a covered stock pot in 3 cups hot water. Saute onion in olive oil until it turns yellow. Add 2 tablespoons bean stock from the pot along with tomato sauce, parsley, salt and chili powder for taste.

Cook for 10 minutes or until a thick sauce is formed, then pour everything into the pot. Add chopped mint, cover tightly and cool for 2 hours over low heat, or for 30 minutes in a pressure cooker. This should produce a thick juice. Serve the soup hot.

Source: Frosina.org

Bean Jahni soup

Thick soup with young nettles

Ingredients:

• 500g. young nettles (top parts)
• 40g. oil
• 30g. flour
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2l. milk
• 1/2l. warm water
• 1 egg
• 1dl. sour cream
• salt and pepper

Clean young nettles, wash and cook in slightly salted water. Drain, rise, drain again and then chop or pass through a sieve. Heat oil, add flour, fry it a little until slightly brown, add snipped garlic, pour in cold and then warm water, add nettles, milk, salt and pepper, then simmer for another 10 minutes. Beat egg yolk with sour cream, add to the soup stirring it all the time just before serving.

Thick soups with spinach, Swiss chard or sorrel can be prepared in the same way.

Related recipes:

• Bulgarian thick soup with herbs
• Serbian thick chicken soup with kaymak
• Montenegrin nettle soup
  

Thick soup with young nettles

Borsch with beans

Ingredients:

• 100g. dried haricot beans
• 1/2 carrot, grated
• 1/2 stick celery, chopped
• 1/2 parsnip, grated
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1.8l. water
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• Pepper and salt
• Fresh parsley, celery, and lovage leaves, chopped finely
• 1 spoon borsch powder (or lemon juice)

First, the dried beans must be soaked overnight in plenty of water before you even think of starting to deal with them. Although so tiny-looking, these beans can be incredibly tough and they need cooking for at least 1.5 hours.

The beans having been soaked, you boil them in plenty of water for about ¾ hour, and then you drain them thoroughly, cover them with 1.8 litres water and boil them again for another ½-hour or more until they soften. When they are ready, add the chopped vegetable (apart from the onion) and the fresh herbs.

While these are cooking, fry the onion: in a separate pan, heat up 1 spoonful of oil, add the chopped onion and cook until softened (5-7 minutes). Then add the tomato paste and 1 spoon of soup liquid and mix them with the onion.

When the vegetables are cooked, add 1 levelled spoon borsch powder, salt, pepper, and the onion mixture. Stir well, cook for another 3 minutes and serve. Garnish with the fresh parsley.

Borsch and bean soup is suitable for vegetarians.

Source: Theotherdelia.co.uk

Borsch with beans

Romanian cabbage soup with bacon

Ingredients:

• 8 sliced bacon
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 green peppers, hulled and chopped
• 1 cabbage, cut into slices
• salt and pepper
• several sprigs of dill and savory, chopped
• 1-1/2l. water
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 heavy cream (sweet or sour)
• 1tbsp. vinegar

You will need a large soup pot for this Romanian recipe. Chop up one slice of bacon, and fry it in a heavy stewpan until the fat runs. Fry the onions in the fat until they are golden. Add the peppers and fry them, too. Remove the stewpan from the heat. Layer the cabbage and the rest of the bacon into the soup pot. Season between the layers with salt, pepper, and the herbs.

Pour the water over it all and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer the soup for 40 to 50 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Remove the soup from the heat.

Beat the egg yolks with the cream and the vinegar in a little bowl. Stir in a ladleful of the hot soup. Whisk well and pour the mixture back into the soup to thicken and enrich it.

Serve in deep bowls accompanied with fresh bread. This soup is a meal in itself, and wants only a piece of cheese and fresh fruit to make it complete.

This recipe is published in cookbook: The old world kitchen: The rich tradition of European peasant cooking

Romanian cabbage soup with bacon

Sarajevo okra soup

Ingredients:

• 300g. veal, cubed
• 50g. fresh okra, sliced
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp flour
• 40g. carrots, diced
• 40g. onions, diced
• 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 egg yolks
• 100g. lemon slices

Sarajevo Okra Soup is a traditional Bosnian recipe for a classic soup made with veal meat, okra and vegetables which is thickened with egg yolks and decorated with lemon slices before serving. Preparation:
Melt the butter in a frying pan and use to fry the veal until browned all over then stir-in the carrots and onions. Cook over medium meat for about 8 minutes then scatter the flour over the top and stir to combine.
Transfer the mixture to a saucepan then stir-in 750ml water along with the okra. Season to taste then bring the mixture to a boil. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks and sour cream in a bowl. Add this slowly to the soup, whilst whisking constantly. Immediately take the soup off the heat and stir-in the parsley. Ladle into warmed soup bowls then float the lemon slices on top and serve.
Source: Celtnet.org.uk

Related articles:

• Bulgarian okra salad

Sarajevo okra soup

Thick chicken soup with kaymak

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken
• 1-1.5 lukewarm water
• 40g. lard
• 250g. kaymak
• 2 onions
• 20g. flour
• 2 tablespoons of paymak
• red paprika pepper
• salt
• 1/2 bunch of parsley

Clean the chicken, cut into pieces, wash and wipe a little. Heat lard, add pieces of chicken, fry to brown on all sides and then take out. To the leftover lard add finely chopped onion, cook slowly until tender, then add the kaymak, add red paprika pepper, mix and to stewed kaymak, stir, add lukewarm water, meat, more water if necessary, salt and pepper. Simmer all until meat is tender. Sprinkle with chopped parlsey before serving. This broth is most often prepared in Serbia, where the best kaymak is produced.

Thick chicken soup with kaymak

Montenegrin nettle soup

Ingredients:

• 600g. young top shoots of nettles, well washed
• salt
• butter for sauteéing
• 50g. round-grain rice, cooked
• 2 potatoes, diced small
• 1 bunch spring onions, coarsely chopped
• 1l. water

Pick the nettles wearing rubber gloves. Sweat the nettle tips, sprinkled with a little salt and water, in a lidded pan until just limp. Pound them to a paste in a mortar, or process to a puree with a food processor or stick mixer.
Saute the chopped spring onions and potatoes in a little butter until the potatoes start to color a little. Off the heat, add the nettles: then gradually stir in the water. Stir well and simmer gently until the potatoes are cooked through.
Serve in a tureen with a dollop of clotted cream.
Source: Europeancuisines.com

Montenegrin nettle soup

Thick soup with herbs

Ingredients:

• 100g. parsley
• 100g. dill
• 40g. mint leaves
• 40g. celery leaves
• 50g. butter or oil
• 40g. flour
• 3/4-1l. water
• 2dl. yoghurt
• juice of a lemon
• salt

Wash spice herbs, remove stalks and snip all. Heat butter or oil, add prepared herbs, cook slowly in a covered pot. When tender, add flour, fry a little and add water. Simmer for about 10-15 min. mix separetely egg yolks, thick yoghurt or sour cream and lemon juice. Add soup slowly, then stirr all well. The soup must not boil any more.

Thick soup with herbs

Thick beef soup

Ingredients:

• 1,5 l. strong beef soup
• 40 g. flour
• 500 g. cooked beef
• 40 g. melted butter
• red paprika pepper

Prepare beef soup in the usual way and strain it. Blend flour with cold water into smooth, not very thick mixture. Pour it into the simmering soup, then cook for 10-15 minutes. Cut cooked beef into smaller cubes. Mix melted butter with red paprika pepper. Pour into the soup just before serving it. Beef cubes can be added to the soup or served separately.

Thick beef soup