Chlodnik Cold Beetroot Soup

Name: Chlodnik Cold Beetroot Soup
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Polish
Ingredients: Beetroot; Beet greens or young tops; Water; Fat-free Greek yoghurt; Whole milk yoghurt; Cucumber; Radishes; Hard-boiled eggs; Fresh dill; Spring onions; Salt; Lemon juice; Black pepper

Chlodnik Cold Beetroot Soup, plated as one serving.

261 kcal a serving, against 375 for the traditional version. That is 114 kcal off, or 30%, with 22.9g of protein. Serves 4. 45 minutes plus chilling.

What the traditional version is

Young beetroots and their greens simmered until tender, cooled and blended with buttermilk, kefir, cucumber and radish. Served cold and poured over chopped hard-boiled eggs and a generous sprinkle of sliced Polish sausage, with a flurry of fresh dill and spring onions on top.

What changed, and what each change costs

Sausage omitted

Traditional chlodnik isn't a protein bomb, but tossing in sliced kielbasa or ham helps it stick to your ribs a bit longer. It also brings a salty, smoky hit you can't quite fake with veg alone.

What it costs you. You lose both protein and the little hits of salt and chew. This is a proper cold soup now, not a salad pretending to be a meal. If your family will riot, you could crumble in a little cooked chicken breast, but it's not Polish and it misses the point.

Extra egg and more yoghurt

Ditching the sausage means you need another protein source or this becomes a beet smoothie with mood lighting. Upping the egg and yoghurt makes the bowl a bit heartier and brings more of the creamy, tangy base that makes chlodnik taste like summer holidays.

What it costs you. It's not sausage - it doesn't make up the lost salt or chew, but it bumps up the protein enough you won't need a sandwich straight after.

Buttermilk swapped for fat-free Greek yoghurt and water

The classic is buttermilk-heavy, which is already fairly light, but Greek yoghurt (fat-free) gets the protein up while keeping the tang. Thinned with water you keep the silky texture, and it chills even creamier.

What it costs you. Buttermilk purists will tell you it's not quite as refreshing, and there's a bit less lactic zing. But you get more thickness and a protein win - and honestly, you'd be hard pressed to call this a hardship.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Beetroot
Beet greens or young tops
Water
Fat-free Greek yoghurt
Whole milk yoghurt
Cucumber
Radishes
Hard-boiled eggs
Fresh dill
Spring onions
Salt
Lemon juice
Black pepper

How it starts

Scrub the beetroots and slice them thinly.
Cover the beetroot and greens with 900g water in a saucepan.
Meanwhile, hard-boil the eggs: cover with cold water, bring to a gentle boil, then cook for 9 minutes.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Polish.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	375	261
Protein	19.6g	22.9g
Fat	20.9g	9.5g
Saturated fat	8.7g	3.6g
Carbohydrate	28.7g	22.2g
Protein per 100 kcal	5.2g	8.8g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Polish prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. milk, eggs.

The method is in the book

The sausage is the first thing fans will miss, and you can't fake that. But the soup's still a proper summer classic: sharp, cold, and so pink it could be a lipstick. The extra egg and Greek yoghurt mean you're not left hungry an hour later. It's meatless and proud - and if that's not enough, well, there's always the sausage roll in your bag.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Polish, along with 53 more. Buy the paperback