Kulajda (creamy dill and potato soup with poached egg)

Kulajda is a creamy Czech dill and potato soup with mushrooms and cream, brightened by a splash of vinegar and crowned with a poached egg — comfort in a bowl, ready in about 40 minutes.

Ingredients

• mushrooms200 g
• cream200 ml
• eggs4 pcs
• dill1 bunch
• vinegar1 tbsp
• potatoes300 g

Method

1. Prep your vegetables. Peel and dice the potatoes into roughly 1 cm cubes so they cook evenly. Slice the mushrooms and finely chop the dill, keeping a few fronds aside for garnish.
2. Simmer the potatoes. Bring about 1 litre of salted water to the boil in a large saucepan. Add the potatoes and cook for 10–12 minutes until just tender when pierced with a knife.
3. Add the mushrooms. Add the sliced mushrooms to the pot and simmer for a further 5 minutes until they are soft and have released their flavour into the broth.
4. Stir in cream and dill. Reduce the heat to low and pour in the cream, stirring gently to combine. Add most of the chopped dill and let the soup simmer quietly for 3–4 minutes — it should turn a pale, creamy straw colour and smell fragrant.
5. Brighten with vinegar. Stir in the tablespoon of vinegar and taste — the sharpness should cut through the richness of the cream without dominating. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
6. Poach the eggs. Bring a separate wide pan of water to a gentle simmer and add a splash of vinegar to help the whites hold together. Crack each egg into a small cup, swirl the water, and slide the egg in; poach for about 3 minutes until the white is set but the yolk is still runny.
7. Ladle and serve. Divide the hot soup between four warmed bowls. Carefully lift each poached egg with a slotted spoon, drain briefly on a cloth, and rest one egg in the centre of each bowl. Scatter over the reserved dill and serve straight away.

Safety & hygiene Important

• Runny egg yolks. This recipe uses soft-poached eggs with a runny yolk. Vulnerable groups — including pregnant women, the elderly, young children and anyone immunocompromised — should ensure eggs are cooked until both the white and yolk are fully set.