Solyanka is a traditional Russian soup. It is very tasty. This recipe is from cooking site say7.info, translated from Russian.

Ingredients

• 700 g beef
• 6-10 types of ham, smoked ribs, sausages, salami, hot dogs, small sausages etc. Total weight 1 kg.
• 150 g carrot
• 150 g onion
• 200 g pickled cucumbers
• 5 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons capers
• black pepper
• 3-4 bay leaves
• vegetable oil
• 1 lemon
• olives to taste
• dill or parsley

Method

Place beef in a pan. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for one and half hour (on medium, skim off the scum).

Take the meat out, let it cool, chop into small pieces.

Chop onion.

Grate carrot on medium grater.

Dice cucumbers.

Dice or julienne meat items (cervelat, ham, smoked ribs, sausages, salami, hot dogs, small sausages, bacon etc).

Fry meat items slightly on vegetable oil.

Fry onion slightly on vegetable oil.

Add carrot, fry a bit.

Add cucumbers, fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add tomato paste, simmer for 5-7 minutes on low.

If tomato paste is too thick you can add some water.

Add meat items to the boiling stock.

Then add beef. Simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Add few capers to taste.

Add fried onion, carrot and cucumbers.

Add half of cup of cucumber or olive pickle. Simmer for 5-7 minutes more.

Add bay leaves, pepper, dill, parsley.

Add salt if needed. Leave it covered for 15-20 minutes. Remove bay leaves.

Pour soup into bowls. Put lemon and olives into each bowl.

Enjoy!