Caraway Soup (Rascová Polievka)
Here is one of several user-submitted recipes. Would you like to share your own?
Ingredients: Water, celery, caraway seeds and dumplings (3 egg yolks, flour and salt)
Prep Time: Half an hour
Here is the recipe for Grandma Gasso’s Caraway Seed Soup. She does not work off of exact recipes. Like all old Slovak ladies it is a pinch of this and a taste of that and that is how she cooked. She is 98 now so she does not do much cooking these days! This soup is very simple. Water, celery, caraway seeds and dumplings. There is nothing fancy about this but it is hearty with the dumplings and delicious. The smell of caraway seeds is wonderful.
Boil 8 cups of water. Put a tea strainer full of caraway seeds into the boiling water. In frying pan brown 2 heaping tablespoons of flour. Add 1 ½ teaspoon of butter (about the same amount of butter as flour) into the flour and mix. Add about 3 spoonfuls of water from the boiling water to the flour mixture. Add 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds to the boiling water (I use a bit more). Add a few chopped celery stalks to the boiling water. Boil the water for about 15-20 minutes. Add the flour mixture to the boiling water, stir and simmer a few minutes to blend and thicken.
In a new bowl mix 3 egg yolks, a pinch of salt, 1 cup of water (I used whole milk) and 2 cups of flour. Thin this out if needed so you can drizzle this into the pot to make dumplings. Pour the dumplings into the boiling caraway seed water in a thin line while stirring. I find this makes too many dumplings so I typically have another pot of boiling water and just make the extra dumplings in another pot of boiling water. My feeling is that you can never have enough dumplings!
Cook for about 10 – 15 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I dont ever remember her making this…she put alot of different things together..and they always were tasty…and caraway in potato soup is devine…thanks for sharing this memory of Grandma Gasso…
I make Egg drop Soup the way my Mother that raised me made it . first i pour Carraway seeds about 2 or 3 table spoons into water and bring to a boil .Neext i make a roue out of a stick of butter an add regular flour till it statrs to brown good . As it all comes to gether i add about 5 eggs an flour with salt to taste till its ready dip one at a time noodles into my water carraway seed mixture plus the rue . I then lower heat an let cook for about 5 to 10 mins then lower heat an serve .Some like it some dont . If im sick with a cold or flu it seems to help . I need to look into what all is in the carraway seeds .
I remember having this… yummmmooooo and the caraway in the potato soup as well…
One of my favorites when I was a little kid on a cold, winters daay. Another favorite was my grandmother’s Turnip Soup with her own DRIED turnips! Does anyone have the recipe?
I made this soup almost same way, only I first brown caraway seeds in butter for 2 min. add flour and rest ingredients from recipe. Soup is stronger and healthy that way, taste better.
I think they invented 1/2 of the Slovak recipies during the wars when they had nothing to eat in the cupboards…. a meal out of a few carway seeds, water, celery,…make dumplings out of some eggs/flour…
Very simple meals for even simpler (poor) times.
Haha, very much possible! And I am glad to hear you enjoyed the green bean soup. It’s one of my favorite soups.
Moja mama robila rascovu polievku s vajckom,vajce sa rozmiesalo a a vlialo do horucej polievky. Polievka sa varila iba s cibulou a rascou vajicko nakoniec. Robila sa aj zaprazka/muka a olej alebo mast/Polievka sa robila pre dojciace zeny ked nemali dost mlieka/ iba to si pamatam.
I remember my Mom making this soup when I was a child. I am 49 yrs old and have twin sons who are 6. I want to make slovak meals for them like I had as a child. Unfortunately, my Mom has passed away and I have nowhere of getting some of the recipes for these meals. I know that alot of them are with inexpensive ingredients and with the price of groceries this is awesome. I love this meal. It is quick and easy and “Oh, so Good.” Thank you
I really disliked this soup growing up. Yuck
Oh Mary, I am so sorry you disliked this soup. When I went to my Grandma’s house and smelled this soup I ran to the kitchen. It is one of my favorites.
My grandmother from Velky Sharis, Czech used to make this whenever anyone got sick. She browned caraway seeds in butter, added water and lemon juice and severed with either boiled potatoes or “popsin” (farfel). I loved it and have never been able to replicate it.
This is the usual method for preparing soup with caraway.
http://dobruchut.azet.sk/recept/12311/rascova-polievka/
Or with a egg.
http://dobruchut.azet.sk/recept/26132/fotorecept-vajickova-polievka/
Veľký Šariš is located in Slovakia.
http://www.obce.info/slovensko/presovsky-kraj/okres-presov/velky-saris/celok-velky-saris
Any way that can be translated into english?
I love potato soup and this was my mom recipe. I always remember the caraway seed. This is what made the soup. It funny what bring back such good memory’s.
Yes potatoe soup & Caraway Seed soup…..yummy can go for some NOW!
Loved when my Mom & Godmother made the Caraway Seed soup for us…. but my Godmother gave it also a different name “Sick Lady Soup” after most of us girls had the monthly cycle or had a baby that would be the soup made for us….& any other times. Wishing for some NOW!!
My Aunt always made this caraway soup however, not with potatoes. She would make some dumplings and then add them to the soup. Sounds good with potato too!!!
My Grandma Gasho made Sick Lady Soup, too. She cooked w/ lots of caraway.
My mother in law made this soup but called it Dough Ball Soup. We never knew any other name. I searched and searched for a recipe and some how came across the Caraway Soup on a Slovak website. Now she is gone and we are going to try to duplicate hers.
Just found this site today as I was looking for a goulash recipe without tomato.
My Baba would make caraway soup when I was growing up. We called it a sick soup, but used it for the stomach flu. There were variations of it. At first it would just be the boiled broth with no flour or butter. Then the caraway was fried in butter to bring out the flavor, and boiled, then strained. Later butter fried flour was used for the flavor. Once the dumplings were served in the soup is when you knew you were better. I taught myself with trial and error, as I had no recipe. After an abdominal surgery which left me not being able to eat, I called an older cousin, but her mother never made it. I craved caraway soup back then. We never used celery though. Thank you for including this recipe.
My mother used to make this soup Christmas eve. Great soup!
My mother made this when we were kids. My daughter remembers this as one of her favorites that Grandma made. We called it Fumpy Dickey, does anyone remember this? Mom passed away 5 years ago, but I just received her little booklets of handwritten recipes. Several caraway soup recipes, but not finding the name Fumpy Dickey yet.
My Mom made this soup which we called “sick people soup”; she was Baba to my daughter and my granddaughter calls me Baba too.
I was thinking of my Baba’s “soup for the sick” and trying to find a recipe as close as my Baba’s. Do you have a recipe from your mother? You were the latest link on the board so I hope you dont mind me reaching out. Pretty sure Baba only had browned butter, seeds and the dumpling noodles. No veggies or chicken stock.