Traditional Russian Cabbage Soup (Shchi) Recipe

1. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, sauté onion in butter until translucent.
2. Add shredded cabbage, coarsely grated carrot and chopped celery and sauté about 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add bay leaf, black peppercorns to taste and 8 cups water or vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15 minutes.
4. Add peeled and coarsely chopped potatoes to soup and bring back to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

1. Add the chopped fresh tomatoes or undrained canned tomatoes and bring back to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Remove bay leaf and peppercorns from the pot. Some cooks leave the peppercorns in. Serve soup in warm bowls with dill and sour cream as garnish. Accompany with rye bread, if desired.

Traditional Russian Soup Recipes

A typical Russian meal starts with zakuski (appetizers), moves on to a hearty bowl of soup, proceeds to an equally hearty main course, and finishes with a not-too-sweet dessert. Soup is, or traditionally used to be, consumed on a daily basis in Russia, explaining the seemingly endless varieties.

Along with shchi, the most popular, and most traditional, soups include  rassolnik (kidney-pickle soup),  borshch (beet soup), botvinia (fish soup with green vegetables), solyanka (hangover soup), kharcho (Georgian lamb and rice soup),  ukha (fish soup),  sukhoi gribnoi (mushroom soup),  okroshka (cold vegetable soup with meat), and  schav (sorrel soup).