Pickle soup with beans and pickled cucumbers

As mentioned above, various cereals and legumes that need to be pre-boiled are added to the pickle soup. We have beans.

We soak the beans in cold water and leave for two hours.

Then we rinse the beans in clean water and boil until cooked without salt. Our beans boiled for forty minutes.

Various offal is also added to the pickle soup; these can be chicken heart, stomachs (gizzards), or pork kidney. We took a kidney.

We cut the kidney lengthwise, remove everything unnecessary, and rinse. The kidney can be soaked in water for some time, or it can be boiled several times, changing the water. We chose the second option. We pour clean water over the kidney, put it on the stove, and bring it to a boil. We boil for five to ten minutes. We discard the water, wash the kidney and the pot. We pour clean water over the kidney for the second time, boil again for ten minutes, then pour out the water, and wash the product and the pot.
After these actions, the kidney loses its specific smell and can be worked with further.

Now we cut the kidney into strips or medium cubes.

We move on to the main product, on which we will prepare the broth, and subsequently the pickle soup. We chop half of the chicken into portions, pour two liters of clean water over it, and let it boil. We remove the foam from the broth, add a piece of carrot and part of the onion. We set the temperature below medium, salt it, and add pepper. We cook a delicious chicken broth.

The remaining onion is cut into medium cubes and sautéed in a pan with vegetable oil.

We prepare the carrot, pickled cucumbers, and potatoes.

We shred the carrot into fine strips and send it to the pan with the onion. We sauté the vegetables over medium heat. We cut the potatoes into cubes and immediately add them to the broth with the chicken. We also add the boiled beans and kidneys. The pieces of onion and carrot from the broth can be removed, as they have already given their taste.

The pickled cucumbers can be finely sliced into strips or cubes, but to cook them faster, they can be grated. We add the cucumbers to the pan and stew them with the vegetables.

When the cucumbers have become soft, it's necessary to add homemade sauce or tomato paste to the pan, as well as salt and spices.

We stew for five to ten minutes and add one or two ladles of cucumber brine. The brine can be replaced with chicken broth. Only now can the dressing be tasted, and sugar and salt added if necessary.

We check the readiness of the potatoes in the pot. The dressing with cucumbers can only be added to the pot after the potatoes are completely cooked. Cucumbers give acidity, and the potatoes will turn out 'hard' – this moment should be taken into account. Only add pickled cucumbers to the fully cooked potatoes. We combine all the ingredients in the pot, add the bay leaf, and cook for another ten minutes. We remove the pot with the pickle soup from the heat and let it steep for about fifteen minutes.

The pickle soup with beans and pickled cucumbers is ready. We pour the pickle soup into portioned plates, add a little dill and sour cream. Serve at the table.

If someone in your family makes rassolnik with pearl barley, try replacing it with rice or beans. Or substitute other ingredients in the familiar dish. Cooking a familiar dish in a new way is always an interesting flavor game.