Nettle Soup - General Cooking Principles
As soon as the first green appears, you immediately want something light, fresh and unpretentious. Nettle soup is just that dish, besides, it is very vitamin and healthy. 30 g of nettle contains a daily rate of vitamin C and carotene. For the preparation of nettle soup take young leaves, and that they do not burn your hands, they need to pour over boiling water. In general, young green nettle doesn’t burn too much, older shoots turn out to be the most burning ones. In addition to nettle, you can add sorrel, dandelions, snyt, dill, cilantro, parsley, green onions, arugula, nasturtium, quinoa and any other greens. The more it will be, the healthier and richer the dish will turn out! Usually, nettle soups are cooked in water, but you can take a low-fat broth from chicken, beef, or use canned meat. Carrots, onions (or roasting them), potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, mushrooms or beans are added to the dish from vegetables. It is very tasty to cook soup with melted curds - when they dissolve, the dish gets a delicate creamy consistency. And if you add shrimps, mussels or other seafood to the soup, you get a real delicacy first course. Nettle soup can be served hot or cold, and a little sour cream and boiled eggs will make it even tastier. By the way, eggs can be simply chopped with a knife and poured into the soup, or cut them into halves or quarters. And you can beat the egg with salt, pepper, lemon juice or cream and pour the mixture a few minutes before the end of cooking.
Nettle Soup - Preparing Food and Dishes
First of all, for cooking soup you need to collect nettles. This should be done only with gloves to avoid getting burned. They usually collect young leaves from the tops. After this, the nettle must be scalded with boiling water so that it does not burn anymore. The nettle is usually chopped finely and put into the soup at the very end. All other greens are also thoroughly washed and crushed. Vegetables need to be washed, peeled and chopped in accordance with the recipe. Also beforehand should boil hard-boiled eggs and pour them with cold water so that they have time to cool. If the soup broth is prepared in meat, the chicken or beef should be thoroughly washed and boiled in a whole piece. For cooking nettle soup you will need a pan, a frying pan (for roasting), a cutting board, a colander, a knife and a grater. Serve the dish in deep soup plates or in deep bowls.
Nettle soup recipes:
Recipe 1: Nettle Soup
This light healthy soup is very easy to cook. Especially delicious dish is obtained in the spring, when you can collect young shoots of nettle.
Ingredients Required:
- 250 chicken breasts;
- 200 g potatoes;
- Fresh nettle - 220 g;
- 50 g of carrots and onions (onion or green);
- Salt, black pepper;
- Some lemon juice;
- Boiled eggs - for serving.
Preparation Method:
Cook broth from washed chicken meat, then take out the meat and cut into portions. Put the chicken back into the broth. We clean the potatoes and carrots, cut them into small cubes and add them to the boiling broth. We dab the nettle with boiling water so that it does not burn. Shred the onions and nettles and put them into the soup 10 minutes after the potatoes. We drip into the pot a few drops of lemon juice. To taste, salt and pepper the dish. Cook the soup until cooked vegetables. Serve a dish with sour cream and quartered hard-boiled eggs.
Recipe 2: Nettle soup with melted cheese
This nettle soup is very good to cook in the country, when you have at hand all the necessary greens. Melted cheese makes the dish tender, and garlic and herbs - savory.
Ingredients Required:
- 1 large potato;
- A bunch of fresh nettle;
- A bunch of green onions;
- Greens of young garlic - a few feathers;
- 1-2 processed cheese with mushroom flavor;
- Dill;
- Salt, ground black pepper;
- Boiled eggs - for serving.
Preparation Method:
Peel the potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Put the potatoes in slightly salted boiling water and cook until done. Nettle pour over boiling water and chop. Wash onion and garlic feathers, cut into rings and fry a little. Add processed cheese to the pot with potatoes, mix thoroughly until completely dissolved, then lay out the onion with garlic and nettle. After boiling, mix everything, salt and pepper to taste, add any seasoning. Serve nettle soup with quarters of hard-boiled eggs and chopped dill.
Recipe 3: Nettle soup, spinach and sorrel
Such a light vitamin soup of nettle, spinach and sorrel will especially appeal to those who are on a diet. The dish is very low-calorie, tasty and healthy. In addition to greens, potatoes are also included here, and food is served with boiled eggs and sour cream.
Ingredients Required:
- 70 g of fresh spinach and sorrel;
- Nettle fresh - 1 bunch;
- Potatoes - 2 pcs .;
- Salt - to taste;
- Sour cream and eggs - for serving.
Preparation Method:
We collect nettles, pour boiling water and tear off the leaves. After the nettle no longer burns, you can begin to grind it. Cutting nettle is desirable smaller. Wash potatoes, peel and dice. Pour water into a saucepan, add some salt and put it on fire. After boiling, lay out the potatoes and cook until semi-mild state. Spinach sorrel washed, chopped and add to the pan. After boiling pour the sliced nettles. It’s not necessary to make soup for a long time, otherwise all the vitamins and other useful substances will evaporate. Serve this soup of nettles can be hot and cold. In each plate, add a little sour cream, chopped green onions and a half of a hard-boiled egg.
Recipe 4: Nettle soup and oatmeal
This first nettle dish is not only tasty, but also very healthy. It is especially nice to have such a refreshing soup in the heat - for this it is better to serve the dish in a cold or slightly warm form.
Ingredients Required:
- Potatoes - 4-5 pieces;
- 1 small carrot;
- Nettle - a small bunch;
- 4 tbsp. l oatmeal;
- 1 egg;
- Green onions;
- Feathers of garlic;
- Olive oil;
- Lemon juice - 30 ml;
- Salt - to taste;
- Black pepper powder - to taste.
Preparation Method:
Freshly collected nettle is carefully washed in cold water. Potatoes and carrots wash and clean. Nettle, green onions and feathers garlic washed and finely chopped. Rub carrots on a coarse grater and lightly fry in a pan. Cut potatoes into chunks, run into boiling salted water and cook until half cooked. Then, right in the pan, mash potatoes with tolkushkoy. We spread roasted carrots and oatmeal to potatoes. Cook the nettle soup over low heat. Then we take a glass and whip an egg with lemon juice, pepper and salt in it. A few minutes before the end of cooking, pour a thin stream of egg and pour chopped greens. Delicious and healthy nettle soup is ready!
Recipe 5: Nettle and shrimp soup
This unusual cream soup of nettle and seafood will appeal not only to the fair sex, who follow the figure, but also to all gourmets who appreciate tasty and healthy food.
Ingredients Required:
- 1 small onion;
- Coarse salt - 2 tbsp. l .;
- Nettle leaves - 100 g;
- Peeled small shrimps - 150 g;
- Butter - 60 g;
- A pound of potatoes;
- 1 liter of water;
- Pepper and salt to taste;
- Olive oil - 60 ml;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- Cumin leaves - 1 tsp;
- White dry wine - 30 ml;
- White bread.
Preparation Method:
Onions cut into thin rings, spread in a bowl and sprinkle with salt, put some hands and leave for 2 hours. Then we wash the onions from salt and lay them on paper napkins so that it is dried. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. In a saucepan, melt the butter, lay out the onions and fry until golden brown, then add the nettles and potatoes. Fry all together for 5 minutes, then pour water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 1 hour. Pour olive oil into a frying pan, add crushed garlic and live on it so that the oil absorbs the garlic flavor. Then we throw out the garlic and spread the cumin with wine in the pan, after a few seconds add the peeled shrimps and fry them in the mixture for 1 minute. Blend the finished soup until smooth, add the shrimps with cumin in oil, salt and pepper the dish to taste. Fry slices of white bread in butter and sprinkle them with salt. Serve soup with butter-fried bread.
Nettle Soup - secrets and tips from the best chefs
To make nettle soup really tasty and healthy, use the following tips and little tricks:
- you need to collect nettles only in your own garden or far away in the forest. Do not collect greens near the road or in other unfavorable places. For soup, only young nettle is needed; - if you do not add sour cream, the soup will turn out less calorie, but not so tender and tasty;
- nettles do not have to be doused with boiling water, you can just wash it in cold water with gloves;
- To make the dish more fragrant, add chopped nettles in onion-carrot roast and fry all together for a few minutes;
- nettle is very strongly boiled down in the soup, so you need to take the greens as much as possible;
- put nettles in the soup for 2-3 minutes before the end of cooking;
- when serving, you can also add some flaxseed oil to the plate - the soup will turn out to be oily, fragrant and even healthier.
