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Just as the weather starts turning colder, I discover Okroshka Soup. Although it’s officially fall, the second summer is clinging here in Colorado, and therefore it remains cold soup season. Okroshka, a delicious cold soup, is chopped fresh dill, cilantro, radishes, cucumber, scallions, and creamy kefir garnished with chopped hardboiled egg and cold boiled potatoes.
Aziza as Inspiration
But first and foremost, let’s give credit and full inspiration for this recipe from Country Life Vlog on YouTube, in which an Azerbaijani woman named Aziza—the star of hundreds of relaxing videos—makes Okroshka Soup. Notably, there is no written recipe provided in this video.
In essence, Aziza Ramikhanova and her husband are vegetable farmers who live in the Hil Village (Yes, that’s the correct spelling.) near Qusar, Azerbaijan. Picture 2019, and their son Amiraslan, a chef in Baku, the capital city on the Caspian Sea, is at loose ends when the pandemic closes his restaurant. He returns home to his parents’ farm. Suprisingly, he restarts his career and becomes a social media influencer.
Amiraslan, Cameraman, Influencer and Son
To illustrate, Amiraslan films his mom and dad chopping wood, stoking outdoor fires, harvesting their crops, putting up and preserving food and raising farm animals. Significantly, all of this videotaping takes place outdoors, in every season, regardless of the cold and weather. He posts these videos on YouTube, and the rest is history. I am one among millions who witness the simple beauty and the work that defines his parents’ life. They are truly an inspiration.
Witnessing Azerbaijani Farm Life
In watching the videos, there is no chit-chat or self-conscious banter. Aziza, wearing her head scarf, vest, skirt and apron, sits outside chopping, mixing, stirring and seasoning. She handles the food and the enormous amount of work that goes into preparing it with years of skill, practice and instinct. Decorating the background are the sounds of nature, lowing cows, friendly dogs, rousing roosters, chuckling chickens and twittering birds. All the sounds and sights are very soothing. And the food she makes looks fabulous.
Grandchildren, puppies, kittens and grandparents show up for cameos, to help entertain or to prepare and eat the appealing food. If, at the end of a video, there is only Aziza and her husband at the table to eat the latest creation, it is no matter. You can expect a cup of tea, brewed upon a samovar with local greens, in-season blossoms and fruits. And a third glass is always poured for the man behind the camera, their son.
Emphatically, with the talent and modesty of Aziza at the forefront, we watch her competently boiling, peeling, chopping, pouring, mixing and serving up this delicious cold soup outside in her barnyard.
Subsequently, as soon as I made Okroshka here at home in Colorado, I was transported thousands of miles to Azerbaijan. But with how easily it’s made and how it tastes, I felt carried away, to a simpler place and time. Here FFA takes a stab at Oroshka here with a written recipe. We’ve tested it, and we love it!
Hey! If tomatoes are still cooming on strong where you live, try this tasty and chunky FFA gazpacho soup recipe.
Okroshka Soup – A la Country Life Vlog
The soup is composed of fresh dill, cilantro, radishes, cucumber, scallions, and kefir and is garnished with chopped hardboiled egg and cold boiled potatoes—a refreshing vegetarian delight. Although Aziza uses more kefir than I do in this recipe, I only used a quart because I like it a bit more like a cold and creamy veggie jumble.
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Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Cooling Time 1 hour hr
Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Azerbaijan
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 large English Cucumber, partially peeled, split lengthwise then sliced
- 1 small bunch radishes, roughly chopped
- 1 bunch scallions, chopped
- 1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 bunch/handful fresh dill, chopped
- Salt to taste
- 1 to 1.5 quarts plain kefir
- 1 large potato, boiled
- 4 hardboiled eggs, roughly chopped
Instructions
Mix the first five vegetables together in a medium-sized bowl. Pour the kefir over the vegetables and stir. Add salt to taste. Refrigerate until cold. Serve with potato and egg as garnish.
Keyword Cold soup, Oroshka Summer Soup
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