History

Pomidorówka is one of the two great Polish soups (the other being rosół, chicken broth), and Wielkopolska's August tomato harvest gives it its peak season in Poznań. The Greater Poland version is typically thickened with rice rather than makaron and finished with a swirl of soured cream. Pomidorówka appears as the daily zupa on milk-bar boards and on bistro chalkboards from late July through September.

Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 6Hands-on 25 minTotal 1 hr 30 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 1 small chicken (around 1.2kg) or 4 chicken thighs on the bone
  • 2 carrots, halved
  • 1 parsnip
  • 100g celeriac
  • 1 large onion, halved
  • 2 bay leaves, 6 black peppercorns, 4 allspice grains
  • 1.5kg ripe tomatoes (or 800ml passata in winter)
  • 1 tablespoon tomato concentrate
  • 200g long-grain rice
  • 200ml soured cream
  • Salt, black pepper, fresh parsley
  • 1 teaspoon sugar to balance

Method

  1. Place the chicken, carrots, parsnip, celeriac, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and allspice in a large pot with 2.5L cold water. Bring slowly to a boil, skim the foam, then simmer covered for 60 minutes.
  2. Strain the broth, discarding the vegetables and keeping the chicken for sandwiches or another use.
  3. Score crosses in the bottom of the tomatoes, blanch in boiling water 30 seconds, then slip off the skins. Quarter the tomatoes.
  4. Add the tomatoes and tomato concentrate to the broth. Simmer 25 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down.
  5. Blend the soup smooth with a stick blender. Pass through a sieve if you want it polished.
  6. Cook the rice separately in salted water for 12 minutes until tender. Drain.
  7. Stir half the soured cream into the soup off the heat. Taste, add sugar if the tomatoes are very acid, season with salt and pepper.
  8. Ladle over a spoon of rice in each bowl, swirl in the remaining soured cream, and scatter parsley.

Tip from the editors. Late August tomatoes that are dead ripe make the dish. In winter use the best Italian passata and a teaspoon of sugar to compensate.

Where to eat pomidorówka

Pomidorówka in Poznań

Bar Mleczny Pod Arkadami ★ 4.0

Modern Polish$

Bar Mleczny Pod Arkadami on plac Ratajskiego 10 in Poznań is a state-subsidised milk bar with the cheapest sit-down plate of Polish home cooking in the city.

Try: Pierogi, kotlet schabowy, kompot

Tip: Order at the counter then take the receipt to the kitchen window; the queue feels intimidating but moves fast.

plac Cyryla Ratajskiego 10, 61-714 Poznań

Pyra Bar ★ 4.0

Modern Polish$

Pyra Bar on Strzelecka 13 in Poznań is the city's potato-bar canteen since 2009, with pyry z gzikiem, plendze and pyzy at sub-25 $ prices for the canonical.

Try: Pyry z gzikiem

Tip: The lunch set with soup, main and a glass of buttermilk lands under 30 $; it is the city's best value on a regional plate.

ul. Strzelecka 13, 61-845 Poznań

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