Spicy Pickled Tomato Soup with Beef

Solyanka is not just a soup, and, to paraphrase Shura Karetny, one can say: “Solyanka is a la flight!” And how good it is to eat hot hodgepodge in the morning, after the festive fun.

Summary

Ingredients

• Beef – 300 g
• Pickled cucumbers – 3-4 pcs.
• Bulb onion, large – 1 pc.
• Tomatoes – 5 pcs.
• Lemon – 0.5 pc.
• Capers – 2 teaspoon
• Fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley)
• Dill, seeds – 1 teaspoon.
• Fennel, seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Ground coriander – 0.5 teaspoon
• Cloves – 1 pc.
• Hot pepper – 1 pc.
• Allspice mix
• Salt
• Sugar
• Vegetable oil
• Olives
• Sour cream

Instructions

1. We take a beef shank, arm ourselves with a sharp knife, and take it apart. We methodically cut off all the veins, tendons and films. We will leave large pieces for another dish. The smaller ones will be cut into pieces that are one centimeter thick and 3-4 cm long. Finely chop the veins and other trimmings, fill with cold water and cook over low heat, covered and without salt.

   

2. While the broth is being cooked, let’s turn to vegetables. Cut off the tails from pickled cucumbers, lay them in length, 3 mm thick, and then cut them across – into strips.

   

3. Cut the onion into quarters, and cut into strips just like cucumbers.
4. Cut the tomatoes, from the “tail” side, crosswise and place in a deep bowl. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes so that they are completely in the water. After a couple of minutes, when the skin begins to peel off, salt the hot water. Dip the tomatoes in cold water and peel them off.
5. Cut the tomatoes into slices. If you don’t feel like messing around with fresh tomatoes, you can go for canned ones. If there are no tomatoes available, you can substitute two tablespoons of tomato paste for them.
6. Heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil in a frying pan and pour a teaspoon of dill seeds into it. In just a couple of seconds, put the sliced ​​meat in a pan and fry it well over high heat. Add the chopped onion and mix. We turn the fire down and fry the meat and onions for a couple of minutes. Stir so that the onion is fried evenly and nothing is burnt. Turn off the fire.
7. In another frying pan, heat one tablespoon of vegetable oil and fry the tomatoes over medium heat. Dissolve them to a thick sauce. Add a teaspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of fennel seeds, half a teaspoon of ground coriander, and one clove. Sprinkle with a ground allspice mixture and put one small hot pepper or a teaspoon (without fanaticism) of Abkhaz adjika. Stir gently so as not to damage the pepper, cook until the moisture evaporates.
8. Add to our spicy sauce fried meat with onions and a handful of chopped herbs – parsley and cilantro. Add half a ladle of meat broth. We mix. We continue to simmer over low heat, under the lid, until it thickens. The base for our soup is ready.
   By the way, the broth should already be boiled. Strain it through a sieve, and give the boiled meat scraps to domestic animals. We are responsible for those who teach us to order.
9. Bring the broth to a boil and add the spicy meat-tomato sauce to it. Cook over medium heat for ten minutes. We send pickles and capers to the pan. Squeeze out a quarter of the lemon and continue cooking for another five minutes. Let’s try. If necessary, we correct the taste for salt and acid. If it is not at all sour, add lemon juice, if it is very sour, add sugar. We catch the pepper from the pan. I remind you once again that the pepper must remain intact, otherwise, the soup will turn out to be very spicy.
10. Tasting such a soup is very good and, I would even say, right, putting olives, a circle of lemon, sour cream on a plate and sprinkling with chopped herbs. Interestingly, the next day this soup does not lose its taste, but only becomes tastier.

    

Please note that this soup has truly healing properties against all sorts of blues and ailments.