Here is a recipe for another popular soup, one made with green beans (zelená fazuľa) and potatoes (zemiaky). Green beans, the immature bean pods, are quite healthy. They are high in vitamin C, and also contain insoluble fibers which aid in digestion. The recipe comes from “Recepty starej mamy” (Grandmother’s recipes), a classic cookbook from 1984 by M. Martišová and F. Martiš. You will find this book on many kitchen shelves in Slovakia. Note, the recipe calls for 1.5 L of water (about 6.5 cups). The resulting soup was slightly too thick for my taste – I prefer more liquid soups. If I were to prepare it again, I would increase water by at least a cup – or use less flour.

Ingredients for making green bean soup, except basics such as flour, sugar and salt. Start by washing the beans (fazuľa).

Then get chopping. Cut off the ends and then slice the beans into sections about half an inch long. Add to boiling salted water (slaná voda) along with the potatoes (zemiaky), peeled and cubed. Cover and cook until both potatoes and beans get soft. This will take about 20 minutes (dvadsať minút).

Then prepare the flour mixture to thicken the soup, zápraška. Brown about 4 tablespoons of flour (múka) on about a quarter of a butter (masľo) stick. Also add about a teaspoon worth of paprika (mletá červená paprika). Stir into the soup.

Once the flour mixture dissolves (break up large chunks by squishing them along the side of the pot), add sour cream (kyslá smotana). I used only about 3/4 of the tub, although the recipe called for more. Next add about a tablespoon of sugar (cukor) and about a teaspoon of vinegar (ocot), to taste. Let go through boil to allow the flavors to mix. Finally, top with about a handful of finely chopped dill (kôpor).

And that’s it. Serve with a slice of good rye bread. Dobrú chuť!

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This weekend I wanted to go for something healthy, so I decided to make a soup. Here is the recipe for the Slovak sour bean soup, kyslá fazuľová polievka. This is one of my favorite soups, along with kapustnica and the lettuce soup. The beans (fazuľa) that grow in Slovakia are, well, bean-shaped, have spots and come in many different colors. I couldn’t find anything like that in my grocery store, so I ended up using “cranberry beans”. These were very much like the Slovak beans, except that they were all uniformly colored. To make the soup cook faster, you start by soaking the beans overnight. Rinse the beans, place them in a large pot and add 1.5L of water. Let sit overnight.

The dry beans

And after an overnight soak

Some people like to use fresh water, but the traditional way is to use the same water in which the beans had been soaking. Either way, the soup will turn out good. Add 2 cloves of crushed up garlic (cesnak), 2 bay leaves (bobkový list), and 3 black peppercorns (čierne korenie). I also added one potato (zemiak), cut into half-inch cubes. This is optional, but I like this soup better with the potato.

Add the ingredients and bring to boil

The soup will foam up so stick around to reduce the heat. This foaming is due to the protein in the beans changing shape (denaturing). It’s similar to what happens when you add hops when brewing beer (I’ve made couple batches of beer in the past).

Let the soup cook until the beans and potatoes get soft. This will take about 40 minutes. Then, make a mixture of sour cream, milk and flour. You want to use about 2 or 3 tablespoons of sour cream, maybe little bit more of flour, and enough milk to make the mixture liquid. Slowly pour it in while stirring.

You next season the soup. First, add salt. I ended up using about 1 tablespoon, but this is just an estimate. Next, add one teaspoon of sugar. Finally, add vinegar. I added about 5 teaspoons, but this again is just an estimate. You want to go slow, and keep trying the soup after each addition. It’s very easy to ruin it by adding too much…

Take 3 slices of smoked bacon, and cut it into small pieces. Fry the bacon for about 3 minutes. You want it to turn pink, but not crispy brown. Add into the soup, and cook for another 10 minutes, until the sour cream mixture completely dissolves.

And there you have it, Slovak sour bean soup! Enjoy!

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