Russian summer soup Okroshka with zucchini (raw-vegan)

This okroshka is a raw vegan version of the Russian soup with zucchini, cucumber, peppers, radishes and herbs.

Okroshka is a Russian national dish. The cold soup in its original version contains non-vegan ingredients such as sour cream (or buttermilk or kefir), sausage and egg.

Serving size: The original dish is designed for 3-4 people. Depending on the amount used, it is suitable as a starter or main course, although the latter has very few calories.

Nutrient profile: According to GDA guidelines, one portion of this recipe covers 120-130% of the average daily requirement of vitamin C and over 100% of that of vitamin K. Folic acid is covered by 50%. The ratio between linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is 8:1, which is above the recommended maximum ratio of 5:1, but the absolute amounts are so small that they can be ignored. With just 133 kcal per portion, this dish is very low in calories.

Zucchini: Zucchini is easy to digest, low in calories and rich in vitamins. Be careful with bitter-tasting zucchini. The bitter taste is caused by the poisonous bitter substances cucurbitacins. These cannot be destroyed by cooking and attack the stomach and intestinal mucosa. An increased content of bitter substances can arise, especially when grown at home (by backcrossing home-grown seeds or crossing with other pumpkin plants).

Cucumbers: The cucumber ( Cucumis sativus) belongs to the gourd family. Depending on the use, we now differentiate between the cucumbers used in this recipe and the pickled or seasoned cucumbers. The cucumber is a low-calorie but very refreshing vegetable due to its high water content (over 90-96%). While in many European countries the use of the cucumber corresponds to its name, in East and South Asia it is often cooked as a vegetable side dish.

Radishes: The typical taste of radishes is caused by a mustard oil that is produced when the plant is injured (by handling or biting) from the mustard oil glycosides contained in the plant.

Avocado: The highly nutritious flesh of the raw fruit is greenish-yellow to golden yellow, soft and has a creamy consistency. The avocado has a high fat content and is rich in unsaturated fatty acids and potassium.

Spinach: Spinach is rich in vitamins (especially vitamin K, folic acid, vitamins A and C), protein and minerals. Despite the high oxalic acid content, consuming raw spinach in reasonable amounts is not harmful to health.

Recommended consumption of spinach: Spinach should not be stored at room temperature for long periods (around a week). Spinach contains a lot of nitrate, which bacteria convert into harmful nitrite. This can cause problems, especially in children, as it impairs the transport of oxygen in the body and the effects depend on both the amount consumed and body weight.

Kala Namak for egg flavor: The blogger recommends using Kala Namak instead of regular salt. Kala Namak, also known as black salt, is an artificially produced salt. Sulfates give it a characteristic sulfurous smell that is reminiscent of hard-boiled eggs. Many people find this smell repulsive. It has a brownish pink color when whole, and when ground it is violet to pink.

For more creaminess, you can use 50 g of soaked cashews for 3-4 servings. However, this means that this dish is not strictly speaking raw food and the fatty acid composition deteriorates.