Northern Ukrainian forest-mushroom soup with dried porcini, sauerkraut, and sour cream — Polissia's wet-and-wooded counterpart to the meat solyankas of the rest of the country.
Polissia is the marshy, forested northern region of Ukraine — a landscape of pine forests, peat bogs, and rivers feeding into the Dnipro and Pripyat. Wild mushrooms (especially porcini, chanterelles, and birch boletes) are central to the cuisine. The mushroom solyanka is the region's signature soup: dried mushrooms reconstituted in stock, combined with sauerkraut and onions in a sour-savory broth. The dish is naturally vegetarian and was historically eaten during Orthodox fasting weeks.
Spoon the solyanka: amber-brown broth thick with mushroom umami, sauerkraut sourness, soft onions, dark olive and caper points of intensity. Sour cream swirled in at the table mellows everything. Forest soup — the season of Polissia's wet autumn in a bowl.
Dried porcini contain glutamic-acid concentrations 25× higher than fresh — that's why even 80g of dried can flavor 2L of soup. The sauerkraut's lactic acid provides the 'solyanka' tartness (the word comes from 'sol' = salt, related to brine-aged foods). Tomato paste added at the end provides color and umami without diluting the mushroom flavor as fresh tomato would.
Variations
Polissia mushroom solyanka is forest-vegetarian; central Ukrainian solyanka uses kielbasa and meats; Russian Moscow solyanka adds lemon — three sour soups of the Slavic world.
On the Palate
Where Polissia Mushroom Solyanka sits in the Ukrainian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
5 steps · 35 min active + 1 hour 25 min waiting
- 132 min
Soak 80g dried porcini mushrooms in 500ml warm water for 30 min. Strain, reserving liquid; chop mushrooms.
Watch outSoak the porcini until fully soft and plump; the water should turn deep amber.
- 211 min
In heavy pot, sauté 2 sliced onions in 3 tbsp oil over medium heat 10 min until lightly browned. Add 4 minced garlic; cook 1 min.
Watch outCook the onions until they take on real colour — that browning deepens the whole pot.
- 36 min
Add chopped porcini, 300g fresh cremini mushrooms (sliced), 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp peppercorns. Sauté 5 min.
- 450 min
Add 500ml mushroom soaking liquid (strained through cheesecloth) + 1.5L vegetable stock + 200g sauerkraut. Bring to simmer; cover and cook 45 min.
- 511 min
Stir in 2 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tbsp capers, 6 sliced kalamata olives. Simmer 5 min. Finish with chopped dill. Ladle into bowls; top each with 1 tbsp sour cream and a lemon slice.
Watch outSimmer just 5 minutes after the paste and capers go in, so their brightness stays fresh.
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