A recipe that’s in every Czechoslovakian grandma’s arsenal, caraway soup.

Caraway soup, when I stumbled upon this recipe in my family’s recipe collection I was certainly baffled. I never grew up eating this soup nor had anyone ever mentioned it. Naturally, I was intrigued enough to do my own research and dig up some dirt on this peculiar recipe. 

First of all, I found out that it’s a very old way to treat stomach ailments like indigestion and such. Second of all, I found out that soups like this date back to ancient Greece to treat such ailments. Lastly, I found out it’s still popular in Czechoslovakia for treating stomach ailments. The common denominator is unfortunately stomach ailments which didn’t initially give me high hopes for this recipe. No one described this soup as being particularly delicious but it is highly regarded as a natural treatment for the stomach flu. Well being who I am, why would that really stop me? I had to know if it was a worthwhile recipe to have under my belt. The results were actually shocking and I actually liked it! I don’t know if it was the medicinal properties of the caraway or the fact that I made this soup with the utmost care but it was oddly comforting. Comforting in the way that a bowl of hot chicken soup is on a cold and rainy day. I can honestly see why it would be a Czech favorite. Now, would I say it’s my new favorite soup? No, I unfortunately wouldn’t. However, I can see myself making it on an odd day to either switch up my soup rotation or to help my stomach get over some trouble. Either way, I’m very happy that I made it and have it in my repertoire. 

Czechoslovakian Caraway soup

½ a medium onion, diced

1 TBSP unsalted butter

1 TBSP ground caraway

1 TBSP all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups kitchen stock

1 large egg, beaten

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a small pot, cook together butter and diced onions on medium heat. Cook the onions until they are very tender and aromatic, they should be transparent but with little to no color on them. 

Turn the heat down to medium low and add your ground caraway. Whisk and cook for about 3 minutes or until the caraway becomes very fragrant. 

Whisk in your flour and cook for an additional minute. 

Slowly add in your kitchen stock and whisk until no more clumps of flour and caraway remain. 

Turn heat back up to medium and cook until the soup becomes slightly thickened, whisking occasionally. 

Once thickened, take the pot off the heat and whisk in your beaten egg.

Return to low heat and simmer soup for about 5 minutes to ensure that the egg is cooked. 

Salt and pepper soup to taste, serve with toast or croutons.