Today's recipe is for zurek, our absolute favourite soup in Poland. I don't think we've ever been to Poland without eating zurek - it's a must! Now, for the first time, we have made the soup on our own, and it was really good! Have you ever had this soup, or do you have other favourite dishes that you have brought home from your travels?
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The Polish soup zurek
We have been to Poland many times, and each time we take the opportunity - at least once - to eat our favourite soup. By now, we have many great zurek memories. One special occasion was when we visited Malbork Castle in northern Poland, together with our friends Lennart and Beata.
We found a houseboat restaurant where we ordered zurek as a "starter", but wise from previous experience we calmed down by ordering the main course. Absolutely right it would turn out! Along with homemade bread, homemade liver paste, the restaurant's own pickled cucumbers and a large strong (and nubbe!) we absolutely did not need a main course. Zurek is a very moderate soup.
The Polish soup zurek is not a luxury food, perhaps rather the opposite. This is an everyday soup with relatively cheap ingredients, such as sausage, eggs and potatoes. But it always tastes just as good. Zurek is perfect with a big spicy one on a rainy day, or uh... any day!
Making your own zurek?
If you follow our blog, you might know that we like to shop at the supermarket. The world of foodwhere they have food from almost all over the world. What do you think we found on the Poland shelf? Yes, zurek base! We googled several different recipes and made our own Freedom version.
Recipe for zurek
Here is our recipe for zurek. The soup is actually made from fermented rye, but if you don't have the time or inclination to make the fermented rye yourself (apparently it takes at least a day!) you can take a shortcut and buy ready-made zurek base. We used the following ingredients (for a soup that together with bread is enough for six people):
- 2 carrots
- a piece of celeriac, about 100g
- a parsnip
- one red onion
- 5 potatoes
- dried parsley
- 1 tsp marjoram
- 1.5 litres of water
- vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp beef stock
- 1 packet of bacon (140 grams)
- 250 grams of flattened ham
- acidified zurekbas, about 5 dl
- 3 hard-boiled eggs in wedges
- 5 small (preferably Polish) savoury sausages
- salt and pepper
How to make zurek!
You start by chopping carrots, parsnips, onions, bacon and ham into small pieces, then fry them all together in a large pot. The potatoes can be cut into slightly larger pieces, and then they also go into the pot along with the water, stock, fond and spices.
Cook everything together for about fifteen minutes, until the potatoes are soft. Then you should blend the soup "carelessly" with a hand blender, so that the soup is thick, but you still have large pieces of potatoes, for example. Now it is also time to add the zurek base. The soup should be thick and reasonably acidic.
Tips! For example, if you don't have bacon or smoked ham at home, you can use cassoulet instead. You can also swap one of the root vegetables for more of another. Go by feel!
While the soup is cooking, you can take the opportunity to hard-boil some eggs and fry pieces of a spicy sausage. The soup can cook for a few more minutes. Then it's time to flavour it with salt and pepper. When serving, add egg halves and sausage pieces as desired. You can also serve it with a good coarse bread - perhaps with liver paste and pickled cucumber as we had at Malbork Castle.
More Polish soups
The Poles are really good at making hearty soups with lots of accompaniments, and it's like a buffet with cucumbers, pies, cheeses and different kinds of bread.
Grzybowa mushroom soup
Mushroom soup, and preferably with porcini mushrooms, is very popular in Poland. On Christmas Eve it is served with dried mushrooms.
Beetroot soup Barszcz
This soup could be the Polish national dish, but it could also be the soup zurek. It's incredibly popular made from beetroot with sour cream and mini pierogi, or chopped beetroot and potatoes.
Ogorkowa cucumber soup
Here's another hearty soup with pickled cucumber, carrots, potatoes and dill. Add some crème fraiche, which is very tasty.
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Kenneth Risberg says:
Thank you for it!
Will definitely try this soup, the recipe is taken.
21 November 2018 - 7:44
Helena says:
The soup is warming and delicious! 🙂 You just have to get the zurek base (or make it yourself ;)).
21 November 2018 - 11:36
Henny says:
It was really a Mitt i prick post for my part. Just sat and added our planned trip to Poland on PRO Jävre's website. I will highly recommend the soup to our travellers. Thanks for the tip and also for your comment on the post on my website about Nisse Simonsson's lecture on health that I listened to yesterday.
21 November 2018 - 8:06
Helena says:
But what fun! When do you go to Poland and where in Poland do you go?
21 November 2018 - 11:37
Henny says:
We will spend five April days in Krakow. Looking forward to it and will now start reading a little.
21 November 2018 - 18:39
Helena says:
Great! Krakow is a nice and interesting city! We have written a little here 🙂 https://www.freedomtravel.se/2017/07/krakow-polens-historiska-parla/
22 November 2018 - 15:59
Hasse says:
Had something similar at a milk bar in Warsaw. Quite ok. In a few days we are going to Riga, I wonder what we will find then?
21 November 2018 - 8:08
Helena says:
What a great time in Riga! Riga has many good restaurants. Here are some we visited: https://www.freedomtravel.se/2015/12/rigas-basta-restauranger/
https://www.freedomtravel.se/2015/12/3-bra-restauranger-i-riga/
21 November 2018 - 11:39
Ditte says:
We tried Zurek in Krakow and that was after you told us about it. Really good. But I haven't made it at home.
At home I often cook Chinese and Thai dishes. And with recipes we have brought home. There are good Asian shops in Stockholm with a good selection.
21 November 2018 - 9:49
Helena says:
Asian food is so good!!! We don't cook much Asian food, but I like to order when I get the chance 🙂 .
21 November 2018 - 11:40
Role o Carina says:
Soups are perfect for warming up in the autumn cold!
Take care......
21 November 2018 - 12:57
Helena says:
Can only agree! 🙂
21 November 2018 - 21:41
Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
I had zurek when a group of colleagues travelled with our Polish doctors to their home town of Poznan. Very good and incredibly tasty. We also ate lots of other local food, unfortunately I don't remember what.
I went on a cooking course one day in western India when I was travelling around there. I came home with a bunch of recipes and lots of spices so I experimented a lot in the kitchen, fun!
21 November 2018 - 13:31
Helena says:
Glad you also tried zurek 🙂 And fun with the cooking course in India! Travelling can really inspire new dishes 🙂 .
21 November 2018 - 21:43
Emma, sun like sun? says:
This is a bonus that lasts a long time when you are exposed to other cultures. You find golden nuggets that hopefully work well at home too.
Soups are often good because you can add a little bit of what you have at home and it's also usually cheap. Made pea soup (love my pressure cooker! Ready to cook in 20 minutes!) a few weeks ago, potato soup this week, broth when the son had a cold. I bake a lot of bread myself (so tired of the Spanish bread!) so it's appropriate to have a soup with the fresh bread.
Interesting about the acidified base. I won't find it, because I can hardly find rye flour! 😀
21 November 2018 - 13:51
Helena says:
It really is! 🙂 And yes. soups and stews are affordable food! Have not tried pressure cookers myself, but heard many others who are very satisfied.
22 November 2018 - 16:00
Lennart says:
I love soups but I haven't tried this one.
Ate a good soup in Hungary in bread but can't remember what it was called.
21 November 2018 - 15:56
Helena says:
Goulash is classic in Hungary, but there are of course many other soups there too! I think I've also eaten some soups there, which I don't remember the name of ... 😉.
22 November 2018 - 16:01
Mr Steve says:
Yum! It was certainly a novelty for me. I'll suggest it to D. A lot of fiddling with the preparation so it probably needs some planning ahead.
For the time being, there is probably a vegetarian Zurek simmering on the wood stove here at Getingstorp.
21 November 2018 - 16:52
Helena says:
Hmm, interesting to imagine it vegetarian! 🙂 The challenge can of course be to get hold of the zurek base, but otherwise you have to find recipes on how to prepare it yourself 🙂.
22 November 2018 - 16:02
BP says:
I have eaten Zurek many times and like you, I/we love this soup, especially in the darkness of winter. Perfect! However, I have never made it myself. Have you tried "Flaki"? The ingredients are not very appealing, but if you like Zurek, you'll probably like the flavour of Flaki as well.
Not sure if you have tried the Polish grocery store near your work, Torsgatan 49. If not, I can highly recommend the shop.
21 November 2018 - 17:47
Helena says:
No, we haven't tried flaki, but googled now ... Didn't sound too bad! May try it when we get the opportunity! 🙂 Thanks also for the tip about the Polish grocery store. I have missed it, must check it out!
22 November 2018 - 16:04
365degrees says:
Looked good, thanks for the tips!
21 November 2018 - 17:50
Helena says:
🙂
22 November 2018 - 16:05
Kerstin Sjögren says:
Is it possible to make a version of zurek with regular coarse rye flour? I will never be able to find the leavened flour in the supermarket. Unless I can find sourdough flour for baking. How can it be used?
21 April 2022 - 14:10
Helena says:
Hi Kerstin! I don't dare answer that, unfortunately. Maybe there are other recipes online where they are made in other ways?
21 April 2022 - 15:29
Joceli says:
My mum and I went to Poland where she had a soup that I can't remember the name of, but it had all sorts of things in it so we called it the "found-on-the-floor-in-the-week soup"?
22 November 2018 - 8:51
Helena says:
Haha, soups have the advantage that you can throw in a little bit of everything ... (although maybe preferably not from the floor ;)).
22 November 2018 - 16:06
Sven Erik Tegby says:
I find it strange to read about Poland and how fantastic Krakow is: I was there during the winter months (in December I think it was).A cover of exhaust fumes from the coal fires lay over the city.
The air was "as bad as it gets" to breathe.Anyone would either catch a cold or get some kind of Anna "respiratory disease" if they had to live in the city.By the way, count how many days there are blue skies in the south of Poland in a year.It won't be many,guaranteed.So stop idealising the country so desperately.They have very serious environmental problems.But,on the postcards you never see it.Of course
02 March 2020 - 21:58
Mr Stefan says:
Yes they are with several cities top-10 in the world!!! with these emission problems, they never go to big cities during the winter months!
30 May 2023 - 16:02