Potato Soup – Czech BramboraÄka
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Loading... - Mandy Hill
- 07 Jan 2022
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Czechs think of this peasant potato soup as their culinary treasure, and today, I’ll show you how to make it from scratch.
WHAT IS BRAMBORAÄŒKA?
BramboraÄka is a hearty and incredibly delicious Czech potato soup made with root vegetables, onions, and potatoes. Mushrooms and dried marjoram are critical ingredients.
NOTE: For those who avoid eating meat, I’ve got good news: this recipe is meatless, and it is, therefore, a vegetarian potato soup. It doesn’t contain any cheese, milk, or cream, either.
PRONUNCIATION
I recorded a short audio clip on how to pronounce the Czech word bramboraÄka.
The first word in the audio is "bramboraÄka", the last is "bramborová polévka", which means potato soup. Brambor is a potato in English.
INGREDIENTS
Root veggies are very typical for authentic Czech bramboraÄka. Here is a summary of what you’ll need to make this soup:
· Potatoes; peeled and diced, use any all-purpose potatoes
· Root vegetables: parsley root, celeriac, carrot; peeled and diced into app. ½-inch pieces
· Onions; finely chopped
· Flour; used in the roux to thicken the soup
· Mushrooms; dried or frozen, I described how to make bramboraÄka with dried mushrooms in this recipe
· Butter; a relatively large amount, to sauté the veggies initially, it’s an important step to get the flavor to the bramboraÄka soup! You’ll find a section The base for flavorful soup further in this post (instructions with photos).
· Cloves of garlic; sliced
· Caraway seeds; crushed for more flavor
· Dried marjoram; a typical Czech spice
· Black pepper; ground
· Parsley leaves; to garnish the finished soup
· Salt
· Water
Dried marjoram and crushed caraway seeds give this soup the real sense of "Czech". Both spices are widespread in Czech cuisine.
INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1: Clean and peel vegetables (carrot, parsley root, celeriac, potatoes), dice them into ½-inch pieces. Peel and slice the cloves of garlic. Chop the onion finely.
STEP 2: Soak the dried mushrooms in a 1.¼ cup of water, bring them to a boil and cook them for about 10 minutes. Reserve the mushroom broth for later.
STEP 3: Heat a pot with a thick bottom on medium, melt in the butter. Add the root vegetables (carrot, parsley root, celeriac – not the onion yet).
STEP 4: Fry vegetables until lightly golden (5-8 minutes), stirring occasionally. Only now, add the onion and fry while stirring for 5 minutes.
STEP 5: Lower the heat to third, and let’s go to make a roux. Add flour with crushed caraway to the vegetables, fry for about 1-2 minutes until the vegetables are covered with flour, and turn lightly golden brown. Stir frequently to prevent the flour from burning.
STEP 6: Pour in the water in batches, whisk to avoid lumps. Season with salt and pepper. Turn up the temperature and bring the soup to a boil.
STEP 7: Add diced potatoes, chopped garlic, mushrooms, and about ½-1 cup of mushroom broth. Lower the temperature and let it simmer until potatoes soften. It takes about 15-20 minutes.
STEP 8: As the last step, add dried marjoram. Rub the marjoram before adding in your fingers to release its essential oils. Cook for a further 1 minute, then remove the bramboraÄka soup from the stove. Read More…
