(click to enlarge)

A savory and satisfying soup, especiallly for cold, rainy days. I often make a full recipe on the first rainy weekend of the year. This vegetarian adaption has more ingredients than the authentic Polish version but it's still pretty easy. Getting the flavor right in small batches is hard so make a full recipe - it'll keeps well (even days at a cool room temperature).

1. Peel POTATOES, put peels and in a pan with SALT and WATER to simmer for stock.
2. Cut Potatoes into bite size chunks.
3. Put ALL * ingredients in a pot large enough to hold the final recipe (a 4 quart pot is minimum). Add enough water to cover well. Bring to a boil and simmer while you work on the other parts.
4. Grind ALL + ingredients fine. and mix
5. Crush GARLIC and chop small.
6. Chop ONION small
7. Put OLIVE OIL, SESAME OIL and BUTTER in a pan and fry Garlic slowly (these are low temperature oils). When it just starts to color stir in Onion and fry slowly stirring until translucent but not at all browned, then add All + ingredients, stir 2 minutes more and pour it all into the main pot.
8. When potatoes are cooked through (and not before or they'll harden), pour in SAUERKRAUT and all its JUICE.
9. Strain the Stock and add to the pot.
10. Adjust liquid as you simmer slowly for at least a half hour. It's best if you set it aside and reheat the next day - but Caution: once the barley is well cooked it tends to stick to the bottom, so keep stirring it up as you reheat.
11. You can adjust acidity to your taste using sauerkraut juice, wine, balsamic or malt vinegar. Don't use cider vinegar - it's the wrong flavor.