Rassolnik with barley and pickled cucumbers

We start preparing the rassolnik with the preparation of the groats. Place the barley in a bowl and cover it with water. Leave it like this for several hours, or better overnight. The bowl should have a little free space, as the groats will increase in volume.

On the day of cooking, select a good piece of meat on the bone.

Wash the meat and transfer it to a pot, add three liters of clean water. Place it on the stove to boil. Bring the broth to a boil, remove the foam, and simmer on low heat for one hour.

Prepare the other ingredients from the list.

Prepare spices, salt, and sugar. One tablespoon of delicious tomato paste.

Rinse the soaked barley under running water. Transfer it to a separate pot, cover with clean water. Bring to medium heat and boil for one hour.

Chop the prepared vegetables. Cut the onion into medium cubes and the carrot into thin strips. You can also grate the carrot in a Korean style.

Dice the pickled cucumbers into small cubes.

Cut the potatoes into medium cubes, as for a regular soup.

An hour has passed, and the barley is cooked. Now it should be rinsed to remove the slime. Rinse the groats and drain in a colander.

In a skillet with vegetable oil, sauté the onion. After a while, add the carrot. Sauté the vegetables over medium heat until translucent.

Then add the pickled cucumbers to the vegetables. Mix the vegetables.

Almost immediately add one tablespoon of tomato paste to the skillet. Add a little water and let it simmer for thirty minutes with the lid closed.

In the meantime, the meat has boiled. Remove it from the pot and let it cool slightly. Cut the meat into portion-sized pieces and return them to the broth.

Add the barley and potatoes to the broth. Cook until the potatoes are done. While the potatoes are not cooked, do not add the pickled cucumber. Otherwise, the acid will make the potatoes hard. Once the potatoes are cooked, add the vegetables from the skillet – the carrot, onion, cucumbers, and tomato. Salt and pepper to taste. Add crushed garlic and bay leaf. Let the soup simmer for ten minutes. Then add the cucumber brine to the soup. Bring the rassolnik to a boil and cook for another five to seven minutes. The cucumber brine will further enhance the flavor of cucumbers in the soup and give it a unique piquancy. According to the classic recipe, rassolnik with barley and pickled cucumbers is ready. Remove the pot from the heat and let the soup steep for ten minutes.

Pour the rassolnik into serving bowls and serve with sour cream and herbs.

The presented recipe is very simple to prepare. I recommend cooking sour soup with pearl barley and pickled cucumbers according to this recipe. And if you have always cooked sour soup with rice, try it this time with pearl barley. Discover a new taste.

Bon appétit!

Cook with pleasure!