Soljanka – Traditional German Soljanka

Preparation

1. 01

   Step 01

   Finely dice the onions, coarsely grate the carrots and cut the potatoes into small dice. Cut the smoked sausage into roughly 1 cm dice. Finely dice the pickled gherkins and slice the olives into rings.

2. 02

   Sweat in butter over medium heat.

   Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sweat the onions and carrots for 4–5 minutes until translucent, stirring occasionally.

3. 03

   Fry the diced sausage briefly.

   Add the diced sausage and fry, stirring, for 3 minutes until lightly browned.

4. 04

   Cook the tomato purée briefly.

   Stir in the tomato purée and cook for 1 minute until it darkens and becomes fragrant.

5. 05

   Simmer over low heat.

   Pour in the hot meat stock and add the diced potatoes. Bring to the boil, then simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.

6. 06

   Step 06

   Add the diced gherkins, olive rings, gherkin brine, lemon juice and bay leaves to the soup. Season with salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

7. 07

   Leave to simmer over low heat.

   Leave the soljanka to simmer over low heat for a further 10 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through. Remove the bay leaves.

8. 08

   Step 08

   Ladle the soljanka into deep bowls and serve each with a dollop of sour cream.