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Pickle with rice and tongue

Rassolnik with Rice and Tongue

A hearty, richly flavored take on rassolnik! Rassolnik—a Russian pickled-cucumber soup—is naturally tasty, filling, and full of tangy, briny flavor. There are plenty of variations, and here's one more that's really interesting and delicious: made with rice and tongue! The flavor is downright amazing—a wonderful change from the usual rassolnik!

The amounts here are for a 4-quart pot.

Aliska fire

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Pork tongue (or beef)

300

Dill pickles (about 250 g)

Rice

Onion

Carrot

Potatoes

Pickle brine

0.5

Salt

Pepper

Bay leaf

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 26 % 6 g

Fats 13 % 3 g

Carbohydrates 61 % 14 g

107 kcal

GI: 64 / 36 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

Gather your ingredients. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, and boil the tongue until tender. Set out a pot with 3 quarts of water or meat broth.

NOTE: The soup will be much more filling and flavorful if you make it with meat broth instead of water. If you don't have natural meat broth (left over from cooking meat), you can make broth from a bouillon cube (1 per pot) or simmer it from pork or beef bones (fish them out of the soup afterward).
Step 2:

Cooking the tongue: Rinse the tongue thoroughly and trim off any remnants of dried blood. Pour hot water into a saucepan, lower in the tongue, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook for 15 minutes. Then drain the water, add fresh water, and continue cooking until tender. This draws off any off-putting odors from the meat. Cooking time depends on the size and age of the tongue—a veal tongue will be done in 1 to 1.5 hours, while the tongue of an older animal can take up to 4 hours.
Step 3:

About 30 minutes before the tongue is done, you can add the carrot and onion to the broth, along with a bay leaf and some peppercorns. Salt the tongue only near the end of cooking. To check for doneness, pierce the tip of the tongue with a fork—if the juices run cloudy, it needs more time; if they run clear, the tongue is done. Lift the tongue out of the broth and drop it into cold water for a few minutes to make the skin easier to peel off.
Step 4:

While the tongue cooks, prep the vegetables—peel and rinse the onion, carrot, and potatoes. Finely chop the onion, grate the carrot on the large holes of a box grater, and cut the potatoes into batons. Cut the pickles into batons as well.
Step 5:

Once the tongue is cooked, put a pot of water or meat broth on the stove. Peel the skin off the tongue and cut it into batons too.
Step 6:

Braise the pickles in a little broth. Separately from the pickles, sauté the carrot and onion until golden.
Step 7:

When the water/broth boils, add the potatoes; once it returns to a boil, add the rice. Simmer over low heat for 10–15 minutes. Then add the pickles, followed by the sautéed onion and carrot, and cook for another 10 minutes. Stir in the pickle brine and bay leaf, and season with pepper. Top up with water if needed. Cook for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the soup rest under the lid for another 10 minutes.
Step 8:

Enjoy!

TIP: When buying tongue, don't go for a very large one—it may come from an older animal. It takes far longer to cook, and by the time it's done, there's hardly any goodness left in it. Besides, it's well known that a young veal tongue, like any young meat, has far more nutrients and vitamins.