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5 from 1 vote

Simple Vegetable Sour Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 6 portions
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This vegetable soup was inspired by the traditional Romanian sour soup. You can expect a very special sour taste, lots of fresh veggies and an interesting eggy texture. De-li-cious!

Ingredients

  • 1 sweet potato (peeled, cubed)
  • 200 g frozen green beans
  • 200 g frozen green peas
  • 1 stick celery (chopped)
  • 1 slice fennel (chopped)
  • 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
  • 3-4 shallots (no skin, sliced)
  • 2 tbsp risotto rice (pre-cooked)
  • 2 eggs (free range)
  • 1 tsp Himalayan salt
  • parsley and lovage (to taste)
  • 1 small lemon (juice only, or 1 small cup of “bors”)

Instructions

  • Prior to making this soup, you first have to boil the rice. Once the rice is almost cooked, remove the excess water and let it sit on the counter. We’ll be adding it to our soup towards the end of the cooking process.
  • In a large pot add together sweet potatoes, green beans, green peas, celery, fennel, garlic cloves and shallots.
  • Add enough water to cover the ingredients and a bit more. Bring to a boil and keep it there until the sweet potatoes are soft (test them with a fork).
  • Lower the cooking temperature and add in pre-cooked rice. Let the soup simmer on the stovetop.
  • In the meantime, break eggs into a bowl and beat using a fork or a whisk.
  • Take one ladle of fresh hot soup and add it over beaten eggs. Mix for about 30 seconds to homogenize with beaten eggs.
  • Pour the contents of the bowl (beaten eggs incorporated into a bit of soup) over the main soup pot. Use a fork and mix very fast until the eggs have dissolved into the soup, forming a specific eggy texture.
  • Finish by adding lemon juice, salt and herbs. Let it simmer for another 2-3 minutes or until the sour taste of the lemon has combined into the entire soup.
  • Remove from heat and set aside to rest for a few minutes. Let the flavors develop while you prepare the table.
  • Congratulations! Your vegetable sour soup is now ready to be served.

Notes

This sour soup can be safely stored in the fridge for at least 3 days. The lemon juice will keep it fresh in all this time.
In the Romanian tradition, the sour taste is traditionally obtained by using a special ingredient called “bors”. “Bors” is a liquid ingredient used in the Romanian and Moldovan cuisines to make traditional sour soups. It consists of wheat or barley bran, sometimes sugar beet, fermented in water - a slightly yellowish, sour liquid, which can also be drunk as such.
For this recipe we are using freshly squeezed lemon juice as an alternative to “bors”. If you have access to “bors”, use 1 cup of “bors” instead of 1 small lemon.
When it comes to rice, I suggested to use Risotto rice, but you can also use Jasmin or Basmati rice. As a general rule, use the kind of rice that you feel comfortable with.
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian
Keywords: easy soup, simple soup, sour soup, vegetable soup, vegetables, vegetarian soup
Author: Marcel Corbeanu