Autumn Green Bean Soup
It’s been about two months since I moved to Prague from Canada, and although the food is good, nothing beats home. The heat wave that was moving through the city has finally passed and the cloudy, rainy days have finally set in. Fall feels like it’s just around the corner and I need some comfort food to ease my homesickness.
To me, there’s nothing more comforting than a bowl of my Mama’s soup. This recipe is a perfect example of the magic of Hungarian cooking – making some of the simplest and most basic ingredients into something far more special.
Ingredients
Autumn Green Bean Soup
2 tbs (30 ml) sunflower oil (or lard)
3-4 cups (450-600 g) green wax beans, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of crushed garlic
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced into disks
7.5 cups (~1.5 L) chicken broth
sour cream, to taste
1 tsp (3 g) corn flour
1 tsp (3 g) sweet paprika
salt, to taste
1 bay leaf
7-10 peppercorns
fresh parsley & dill
METHOD
01 PREPARATION
First, wash and slice the green beans into 1-2 inch pieces, finely chop the onions, slice the carrots, cube the potatoes, and crush the garlic.
02 COOK YOUR ONIONS
Add about 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil (or lard) into your cooking pot, then add your onions. Cook the onions for about 2 minutes, then add your crushed garlic. Do this until they’re soft and glassy.
03 MAKE YOUR BROTH
Take your pot off the heat and stir in about 200 ml of chicken broth mixed with a teaspoonful of paprika powder (to prevent clumping). Then, add your vegetables, some chopped parsley & dill, and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes (stirring occasionally).
Pour in the remaining broth, add some salt and pepper to taste, drop in your bay leaf, and cook on low heat until the vegetables are soft (keep the lid on the whole time).
04 ADD SOME SOUR CREAM
Evenly combine a teaspoon of corn flour with your sour cream. Then add and mix some of the soup’s liquid into it to even out the temperature. Add this mixture into the soup and let it simmer until the soup thickens a bit.
05 SERVE & ENJOY!
Then, serve it with fresh crusty bread & butter.
