Щи: Традиционный русский суп из капусты

Russian style cabbage soup

Shchi is a Russian style cabbage soup. When sauerkraut is used instead, the soup is called sour shchi, while soups based on sorrel, spinach, nettle, and similar plants are called green shchi (зелёные щи, zelionyje shchi). In the past, the term sour shchi was also used to refer to a drink, a variation of kvass, which was unrelated to the soup.

The major components of shchi were originally cabbage, meat (beef, pork, lamb, or poultry), mushrooms, flour, and spices (based on onion and garlic). Cabbage and meat were cooked separately and smetana was added as a garnish before serving. Shchi is traditionally eaten with rye bread. The ingredients of shchi gradually changed. Flour, which formerly was used to increase the soup's caloric value, now was excluded for the sake of finer taste. The spice mixture was enriched with black pepper and bay leaf, which were imported to Russia around the 15th century, also from Byzantium. Meat was sometimes substituted with fish, due to reasons related to the Eastern Orthodox Church calendar related fasting. As for the vegetables, carrot and parsley could be added to the shchi. Beef was the most popular meat for shchi in Russia, while pork was more common in Ukraine. The water to cabbage ratio varies and whereas early shchi was often so viscous that a spoon could stand in it, more diluted preparation was adopted later. Devanagari script can render щи with only one glyph श्ची, albeit one that takes four keystrokes to type श ् च ी which combine to give श्ची.