Cabbage soup with mushrooms, monastery style
4 servings
70 minutes
Monastery-style cabbage soup with mushrooms is a fragrant and soulful dish rooted in ancient Russian monastic traditions. It is based on dried mushrooms that give the soup a rich forest flavor, while pearl barley makes it nutritious and thick. Vegetables—cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and onions—create a harmony of flavors, and butter adds tenderness. This soup warms the soul and body; it is served hot with sour cream and fresh herbs, enhancing the richness of flavor with a light tanginess. Historically, monastery soups were cooked in an oven over low heat to allow all ingredients to fully unfold. Today they can also be boiled on the stove, but the main thing is to preserve the tradition of slow and thoughtful cooking as this holds their special magic.
1
Soak dried mushrooms and pearl barley in warm boiled water in separate containers. Pearl barley is usually soaked for one hour, mushrooms for 3-4 hours.
- Dried mushrooms: 30 g
- Pearl barley: 0.5 glass
2
Drain the water from the mushrooms, rinse them, place them in a pot, add water, lightly salt, and boil until ready. Then remove the mushrooms (do not discard the broth!), chop them finely, and return them to the pot.
- Dried mushrooms: 30 g
- Salt: to taste
3
Wash, peel, and finely chop or grate the carrot and onion. Melt butter in a pan and sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes. Then pour a cup of boiled water into the pan and simmer for another 10 minutes over medium heat. When the vegetables are ready, place them in the pot with the broth.
- Carrot: 2 pieces
- Onion: 1 head
- Butter: 50 g
- Salt: to taste
4
Wash and dry the potatoes and cabbage. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes; finely chop the cabbage. Boil the soaked pearl barley in slightly salted water until cooked, then drain the water.
- Potato: 250 g
- White cabbage: 300 g
- Pearl barley: 0.5 glass
- Salt: to taste
5
Place a pot with broth over medium heat, add cooked pearl barley, potatoes, and cabbage, season with salt and pepper, add peppercorns and bay leaves, and cook until the cabbage and potatoes are done.
- Pearl barley: 0.5 glass
- Potato: 250 g
- White cabbage: 300 g
- Salt: to taste
- Ground black pepper: to taste
- Black peppercorns: 5 piece
- Bay leaf: 4 pieces
6
Before serving, pour the soup into bowls, add sour cream, and sprinkle with chopped herbs on top.
- Sour cream: 100 g
- Fresh herbs: to taste
