Meat solyanka
Description
The recipe won't take much time. A person born in the 70s–90s can't imagine a dinner table without a first course. While other national cuisines feature culinary "kings" such as harcho soup or Ukrainian borscht in this role, in Russia it's the traditional meat solyanka, rightfully considered the signature first dish. Solyanka can be prepared with broth or without it. Classic solyanka is a soup rich in meat and meat products.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
To prepare solyanka, we will use chicken meat. Place the chicken fillet in a saucepan. Pour water over the meat and start boiling.
- 2
Step 2
Slice the smoked sausages into thin strips. It's better to use several types of sausage. I don't recommend using boiled sausage or sausages for solyanka, as the taste won't be very good. The solyanka will be tastier and more filling if you use dry-cured or cooked-smoked sausages.
- 3
Step 3
Peel the pickled cucumbers and grate them coarsely. Transfer the grated cucumbers to a separate small saucepan. Pour in water until the cucumbers are completely submerged. Cook separately until needed (step 7).
- 4
Step 4
Fry chopped onion in vegetable oil.
- 5
Step 5
Add the sliced sausage products to the fried onions. When the sausage products are browned (about 10 minutes), pour tomato juice into the pan and add a little tomato paste. The tomato paste is added to make the solyanka fairly thick, which enhances the flavor of the broth.
- 6
Step 6
Remove the chicken meat from the broth. Let it cool and chop finely.
- 7
Step 7
Add the tomato-sausage sauté, chicken fillet, and cucumbers previously boiled separately to the broth. Cook everything together for 15 minutes (until all ingredients are cooked through).
- 8
Step 8
Season the solyanka with salt and pepper. Add other spices to taste, if needed, and a little sugar to neutralize the tomato's acidity. Ladle the solyanka into bowls and serve.