In Summer, we get hot and dehydrated quicker, that is why we tend to crave cold, watery things. For those of you who are tired of going back to the same things every time, I am happy to recommend a few refreshing Russian recipes that I grew up with. Thankfully, there is no shortage of them. My list consists of two salads, a cold soup, and a cold beverage.

Salads (салаты):

Green onion and egg salad

Ingredients: ½ bunch green onion crushed, 4 hard boiled eggs, ¼ cup mayo or sour cream, ¼ bunch of dill, salt and pepper (garlic optional) to taste. Preparation: cut up the onion and eggs, mix onion, sour cream, salt, pepper and 3/4 of the eggs, add dill and remaining egg on top for garnish, refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

Red cabbage and mushroom salad

Ingredients: ¾ lb red cabbage, ¾ lb fresh mushrooms, 2 medium pickles, 1 medium onion, 1 cup sour cream, salt/dill/parsley/pinch of sugar to taste. Preparation: finely shred the cabbage, add salt, work the salt into the cabbage by firmly squeezing the cabbage with your hands for 1-2 minutes; boil the mushrooms for about 20 min, then cut into thin strips; finely cube pickles and onion; mix all of the ingredients, garnish with dill (I use ¼ bunch), refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

Cold Soups (холодные супы):

Cold soups, or summer soups, are a perfect way to fill up and cool off at the same time. In Russia, cold soups are usually a combination of vegetables, some type of meat, sometimes eggs, and a liquid base, such as kvass (a traditional Russian drink), kefir (kefir is similar to buttermilk), or even kombucha (чайный гриб). Aside from kvass, you can easily find all of the ingredients in a typical US supermarket. Kvass can either be made at home (here is one way to make it) or bought at the closest Russian store, if you have one in the area 🙂 . You can read more about kvass here.

Okroshka (окрошка) is probably the most popular cold soup in Russia. There are many variations of it. Traditionally, it is made with kvass but if you do not like the taste of kvass, using kombucha or kefir (use buttermilk as a substitute) is certainly an option.

Ingredients: ½ lb beef or bologna, 2 medium potatoes, 5-6 red radishes, ½ bunch cilantro/parsley, ½ bunch dill, 3-4 hard boiled eggs, ½ bunch green onion, 2 salad cucumbers (1 long cucumber will do, but they don’t really even taste like cucumbers, in my opinion); salt/pepper to taste.

Preparation: boil, cool, then cut into small cubes eggs, potatoes and meat (bologna); while potatoes and meat are cooling off after boiling, cut the parsley, onion, dill, and thinly slice the radishes and cucumbers; put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Serve by combining 2-4 scoops of dry ingredients with a chilled liquid base of your choice – kvass, kefir/buttermilk and water (mix 2 parts kefir to 1 part water in a separate bowl), or kombucha. Note: combine dry ingredients with liquid base one bowl at a time; this soup is not meant to be mixed all at once because the ingredients will get soggy and mushy, add more to your bowl as needed. Also, the base has to be chilled to achieve authentic taste! If using kvas, feel free to add a dollop of sour cream to your soup.

Please keep in mind that if kvass new to you, it is very likely that you will not like the taste of it; perhaps, using buttermilk or kefir on your first try will be better 🙂 .

Cold Beverages (холодные напитки):

The above mentioned kvass (here is one recipe, however this one might be too sweet for okroshka) is among the most popular Russian summer drinks. There are many variations of kvass but due to specificity of taste, I would like to draw your attention to a different, perhaps, more palatable drink called компот (kompot).

Kompot (компот):

There are literally hundreds of different recipes for kompot in Russia. I am offering you a good beginner recipe for kompot with strawberries. Kompot is a great alternative to flavored water and other synthetically flavored drinks 🙂 .

Ingredients: 1 lb fresh strawberries, ½ cup to 1 cup sugar (depending on your taste preferences), 2 quarts water.

Preparation: bring the water to a boil, cut the stems of the berries; when the water starts boiling, add berries and sugar, cook for about 7-10 minutes. Let the kompot cool off completely. Kompot tastes best when chilled.

Приятного аппетита! (bon appetit!)