Home recipe kuchnia polska

Dill Soup

Name: Dill Soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: kuchnia polska
Ingredients: 1 l vegetable broth (or chicken broth or stock (then the soup is not vegetarian)); 1 tbsp butter (or 2 tablespoons of clarified butter); 1 pc onion (or green onion with chives); 150 g carrot (preferably young, 2–3 pieces); 300 g potatoes (3 medium, preferably young; omit if serving with rice or pasta); 1 bunch dill (large; sources suggest from 3 tablespoons chopped to 2 bunches); 4 tbsp sour cream 18% (or 4 tablespoons of 30% cream, which does not need to be tempered); 1 tsp salt (flat, season to taste as the broth can be salty); black pepper, ground (to taste); 1 pinch turmeric (for color, not necessary); 1 pinch nutmeg (not necessary); rice, small pasta, or bread with croutons (cook rice and pasta separately)

A light soup made with vegetable broth, potatoes, carrots, and a generous amount of fresh dill, finished with cream. You will learn when to add the dill, how to temper the soup so the cream doesn't curdle, what to serve it with, and what to buy abroad instead of Polish cream.

Servings: 4 servings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Difficulty: Easy

Duży pęczek świeżego koperku z łodygami na ciemnym drewnianym blacie

The story behind the recipe

Dill soup is one of the simplest Polish homemade soups. On the English Wikipedia, it is described as a soup made with chicken broth and root vegetables, a lot of dill, green onions, and potatoes, sometimes finished with cream. Dill has many folk names in Poland: koper, koperek, koper swojski, kopr polski, krop. According to Polish Wikipedia, its fresh leaves are added to both hot soups and cold soups.

It is unclear when and where dill soup originated. In old cookbooks, such as "Soups and Sauces" by Elżbieta Kiewnarska from 1929, dill is mentioned in relation to cucumber, tomato, or fish soups, but we did not find a separate recipe for dill soup. It is also absent from "Polish-American Cuisine" by A. J. Kamionka, published in 1917 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin for the Polish community.

Today, it is primarily a spring and summer soup. Ania Gotuje waits until May when thick bunches of dill, young potatoes, and young carrots appear at the market, as in winter, dill is sold only in thin bunches. Kwestia Smaku usually makes it in summer, and in autumn and winter, they enrich it with meatballs or pieces of chicken. Dill soup is not on the List of Traditional Products of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Ingredients

Soup

1 l vegetable broth (or chicken broth or stock (then the soup is not vegetarian))
Abroad: USA and Canada: vegetable broth or chicken broth; UK and Australia: vegetable stock or chicken stock; Germany: Gemüsebrühe or Hühnerbrühe
1 tbsp (about 14 g) butter (or 2 tablespoons of clarified butter)
1 pc onion (or green onion with chives)
Abroad: green onion: spring onions / scallions; Germany: Frühlingszwiebeln
150 g carrot (preferably young, 2–3 pieces)
300 g potatoes (3 medium, preferably young; omit if serving with rice or pasta)
1 bunch dill (large; sources suggest from 3 tablespoons chopped to 2 bunches)
Abroad: fresh dill (sometimes described as dill weed); Germany: Dill
4 tbsp (about 58 g) sour cream 18% (or 4 tablespoons of 30% cream, which does not need to be tempered)
Abroad: 18%: USA sour cream, UK soured cream, Germany saure Sahne or Schmand; 30%: whipping cream / heavy cream, Germany Schlagsahne

Spices

1 tsp (about 6 g) salt (flat, season to taste as the broth can be salty)
black pepper, ground (to taste)
1 pinch turmeric (for color, not necessary)
Abroad: turmeric; Germany: Kurkuma
1 pinch nutmeg (not necessary)
Abroad: nutmeg; Germany: Muskatnuss

To serve

rice, small pasta, or bread with croutons (cook rice and pasta separately)

Method, step by step

Thoroughly wash the dill in cold water, dry it, and finely chop it. You can cut off the thickest stems, and chop the thin ones together with the leaves.
Peel the vegetables. Cut the carrot lengthwise into 4 pieces, then slice it thinly. Dice the potatoes, and finely chop the onion. If using green onions, slice them and chop the chives.
In a pot with a capacity of at least 3 liters, melt the butter and sauté the onion over medium heat, stirring to prevent it from burning.
Add the carrot and sauté it with the onion for about 3 minutes, stirring.
Add the potatoes, season with salt, pepper, a pinch of turmeric, and, if you like, nutmeg. Sauté for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce the heat, and cook for about 15 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
Add the chopped dill and cook uncovered for another 2–5 minutes.
Temper the soup. Remove the pot from the heat. Mix the 18% sour cream in a bowl with a few tablespoons of hot soup and only then pour it into the pot, stirring constantly to prevent curdling. You can pour in the 30% cream directly, stir, and turn off the heat when the soup starts to boil again.
Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot, with bread or croutons. If you prefer it with rice or pasta, cook them separately and add to the bowls before pouring in the soup.

Tips

How much dill. Recipes vary greatly: Kwestia Smaku uses 3 tablespoons of chopped dill per liter of broth, Kuchnia Lidla 25 g (1 oz), Ania Gotuje a 'large bunch', and Przepisy.pl even two bunches. Kuchnia Lidla chops the dill together with the stems.

Curdled cream. Sour cream 18% poured directly into hot soup can easily curdle. Remove the pot from the heat, mix the cream in a bowl with a few tablespoons of hot soup, and only then pour it into the pot, stirring constantly. Ania Gotuje does not temper the 30% cream, pouring it in directly.

Pale color. Ania Gotuje uses young carrots and green onions, and enhances the color with a pinch of turmeric. Kwestia Smaku also adds a pinch of paprika.

Too fatty broth. If you are making the soup with homemade broth, skim off excess fat from the surface. Ania Gotuje writes that there can be specks of fat in the soup, but not a whole layer.

With rice or pasta. Ania Gotuje skips the potatoes in this case, cooking the rice or pasta separately and adding it to the bowls before serving. Kwestia Smaku adds 1–2 tablespoons of small pasta or rice to the pot right after pouring in the broth, but the soup thickens then; it can also be barley or millet.

What to serve with. Kwestia Smaku serves dill soup with regular bread or croutons: toast bread and cut it into cubes.

Variations. Kwestia Smaku makes dill soup with meatballs made from ground turkey or pork, browned and simmered in the soup for about 15 minutes. Ania Gotuje adds fried meatballs at the end or small chicken meatballs halfway through cooking. Karol Okrasa, in a recipe for Kuchnia Lidla, adds nutmeg, cumin, bay leaves, and allspice, and at the end, sours the soup with sauerkraut juice, adding it in batches. In the recipe from Przepisy.pl, the pasta is cooked in the soup, and the soup is thickened with cream mixed with flour and tempered egg yolks.

Vegetarian and meat versions. The soup is meatless when made with vegetable broth. Kwestia Smaku and Ania Gotuje also make it with chicken broth, and Ania Gotuje even with duck broth; you can find the recipe for broth in our soup section.

Storage. The American FoodSafety.gov states that soups with vegetables or meat can be stored for 3–4 days in the refrigerator and 2–3 months in the freezer (after this time, the soup is safe but loses quality). Keep rice and pasta separate.

Abroad. Fresh dill is called fresh dill (sometimes described as dill weed) in the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia, and Dill in Germany. In winter, the bunches may be thin, so buy a few. Sour cream 18% is sour cream in the USA (American has at least 18% fat), soured cream or sour cream in the UK, saure Sahne or Schmand in Germany (Schmand has 20–29% fat). Cream 30% is whipping cream or heavy cream in the USA and Canada, whipping cream in the UK, and Schlagsahne in Germany. Vegetable broth is vegetable broth or vegetable stock (Gemüsebrühe), chicken broth is chicken broth or chicken stock (Hühnerbrühe).

Photos

Pojedyncza gałązka świeżego koperku na jasnym tle

Soups Polish cuisine Vegetarian Substitutes abroad

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