Traditional Polish Mushroom Soup for Christmas
Oh, my beloved Christmas dish- Mushroom soup. It is a traditional Polish culinary treasure. Every time I make this soup, it feels like it is Christmas at home and takes me back to my childhood memories.
The tradition of Mushroom soup doesn’t start with Christmas in Poland. It goes back to fall, when is the time for mushrooms hunting in the forest for mushrooms. Mushroom hunting is a huge custom tradition in Poland that no one wants to skip!
It was also my favorite time of the year, where all Poles couldn’t wait for the mushroom season to start. After we picked the mushrooms, the entire family spends long hours cleaning, sorting, and drying them over the stove so we can use them in the wintertime. The smell of the house was amazing! The beautiful aroma stayed afloat for days. The flavor of dried forest mushrooms is part of the Polish culinary heritage.
My version of the soup is made from dried forest porcini mushrooms (the best ones are boletus), and it is vegetarian.
Mushroom soup is very aromatic, full of flavors, and dark. It doesn’t require lots of time for preparation, but the result is outstanding. Traditionally the soup is served on Christmas Eve with small dumplings filled either with meat or sauerkraut.
This version is Vegan and Paleo but traditionally, whipping cream is used and sour cream for garnish. I used vegetable broth because historically, that’s what we use (because there is no meat allowed at Christmas Eve dinner), but you can use chicken stock if you wish. Garnish with chopped parsley. You can find the mushrooms at the Polish store if you have one close by, but dried boletes, porcini, and cepes are pretty close, and you can find them year-round at the regular grocery stores. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1/2 lbs dried mushrooms (polished dried mushrooms preferably)
- 1 onion
- 4 gloves of garlic
- 1/2 stalk of celery
- 3 carrots
- 3 parsnips
- 1 celery root
- 2 pacific mushroom broth
- 1 can can of coconut milk
- 2 T garlic powder
- 2 T onion powder
- 2 T dry marjoram
- 2 T dried basil
- 1 T dried dill
- 1/2 T black pepper
- 1 T apple cider vinegar
- 2 T avocado oil
Instructions
- Soak mushrooms the night before in the large soup pot. Make sure that you emerge them all in the water.
- Wash all vegetables
- Cut all vegetables into small pieces
- Brown onion and garlic with 2 T avocado oil
- Add other vegetables and smoked mushrooms along with the water from the soaked mushrooms
- Add more water
- Add bullion
- Cook for 4 h
- 1 h before adding all spices
- 10 min before the soup is done, add the solid part from 1 can of coconut milk (or if you eat dairy, add 1 C of sour cream) and 1 T apple cider vinegar
Hi, I subscribed, but where is the recipe? Thanks
Ops I’m going to add! Sorry about that!