INGREDIENTS

bunch of young beets with leaves (about 6 not too small ones)
¼ lemon juice
3 garlic cloves (chopped) or 1 tsp minced garlic
1250 ml / 5 cups of boiling water
1 English cucumber (quartered and sliced or diced)
about 10 / 150g radishes (halved and sliced)
4 spring onions – green part only or chive (chopped)
small bunch of dill – about 25g (chopped)
2 x 500g natural yogurt or cultured buttermilk
sea salt to taste
black peppercorns (freshly ground) to taste
golden caster sugar to taste – optional

4-6 hard boiled eggs to serve
1- 1½ kg baby potatoes (cooked) to serve
1 tbs unsalted butter for potatoes

METHOD

Discard ugly beetroot leaves, the rest wash and chop together with stems. If there is plenty of leaves use only half. Wash also, peel and chop beets, you can dice them or cut into thin strips.
Place in a large pot with boiling water, garlic and lemon juice. Cook covered until beets are soft but still crunchy.
Remove from fire, add cucumber, radishes, half of the dill (reserve the rest to sprinkle over potatoes), spring onions and leave aside to cool down a little bit. Add yogurt, season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar and place in the fridge for at least an hour.

Serve chilled with freshly cooked baby potatoes topped with butter and dill and hard boiled eggs on a side.

Make 6 servings.

• Add a little bit more boiled water if the soup is too thick or too intense in flavour.
• If you have too many beetroot leaves, wash and chop them and freeze to use later in different soups.
• Here is recipe for previous / lazy version of chłodnik I made from cooked and peeled already beets you can easily get in supermarket: Easy Chłodnik – Polish Summer Cold Beetroot & Yogurt Soup.