Vegan Chlodnik. It’s fresh, tangy, unapologetically pink and it tastes nothing like an açaí bowl.

As always, if you dig this recipe, tag me at @draggedthroughthegarden on instagram and tell me if you’ve had cold borscht before.

Vegan Chlodnik. It’s not on the menu at Starbucks either.

VEGAN CHŁODNIK

prep time: 20 minutes
cook time: 30 minutes

The cook time is for baking and braising the beets.

This one requires you to grate a bunch of stuff and combine it with buttermilk & yogurt.

What you’ll need:

beets
cucumber
radishes
chives
dill
salt
lemon
dill pickles
oat milk
apple cider vinegar
vegan yogurt (plain)
veggie broth
gloves

Cut the stems and leaves off the beets. Thoroughly rinse them and pat dry. Dice the stems into small pieces and julienne the leaves down. Feel free to chop them down even further. Get out a stock pot and add half a cup of veggie stock, a pinch of salt and a generous squeeze of lemon. Throw the stems and leaves in the pot for about 15 minutes at a simmer. We are making no waste of this one.

Set oven to 350°. Wash the beetroots off and then dry them off. Put them in a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of your cold soup. It might end up 35 minutes but as long as they’re fork tender. You’ll peel them afterwards.

Eventually you’ll have a giant head and beet-stained teeth too.

Now the remainder of the soup can be prepared in a large bowl. It will also make your life easier if you use a cheese grater or a food processor. I used a grater but feel free to use whatever.

You’re essentially going to grate all of your ingredients directly into the bowl and then add your liquid components as you go.

Finely chop up a fistful of dill and lots of chives. Peel a cucumber. Cut a lemon in half.

Grate the cucumber directly into the bowl…or finely chop into little baby cubes. Add your dill and chives. Squeeze some of the lemon in there too to help preserve your mixture as you keep this train rolling. Add a pinch of salt.

Rinse off like 5-6 radishes and then grate those into the mix too. Dice up a few dill pickles and add those as well. All of this stuff along with some of the later ingredients will give this dish a pleasant, tangy acidity.

In a separate bowl (or deli) add two cups oat milk to one cup apple cider vinegar. This will function as your buttermilk/kefir. While that curdles up a little, get out some plain yogurt and add a few spoonfuls of that. I used 3/4 cup. Add a big splash of pickle brine into the mix. More acidity! It will balance with the freshness, I promise.

Check the stockpot to see if the beet stems and leaves are soft. Drain out a little bit of the liquid and then add the contents of the pot to your bowl. You should have a nice deep, red broth in your pot.

And now you have this tie-dye looking mess. You don’t have to use all the stems & leaves, but I wanted a heartier chlodnik.

Get your beets out of the oven and check to see if they are fork tender. If so, stick them in the freezer for a few minutes because next you are going to peel & grate them without burning yourself.

Get your beets out of the freezer and put some gloves on. Peel the beets and grate them onto a plate with a cheese grater.

Without making a huge mess, add your grated beetroot into your soupy mess.

Give this a stir so everything is even and pink. If more liquid is needed, add a splash of apple cider vinegar and as much oat milk as required.

Now that you have this incredibly aesthetically pleasing looking bowl of pink stuff, stick it in the freezer for a few minutes to achieve optimal chlodnik temperature. It’s time to dice up some garnish. Chop up some cucumber, radish, dill & chive.

Once your bowl of pink drink is sufficiently chill, ladle some of that stuff outta there into a serving bowl and top with your garnishes. Feel free to apply yogurt a la crema for more instagram likes.

If you dug this recipe, share it with a friend. If you hated every moment with it, share it with a friend for the algorithm knows no bounds. Tag me on instagram @draggedthroughthegarden and I will tell you how proud of you I am either way. Soup for my family, soup for your family.