This easy and quick oyster mushroom soup is another great mushroom soup from Czech cuisine! It has a pleasant spicy flavor that will warm your body and soul during the cold months.
➜ What can you expect
This oyster mushroom soup is based on a popular Czech recipe for tripe soup. However, since there are many naysayers to offal dishes, oyster mushroom soup is a great way to sample Czech cuisine without being forced to eat tripe or other interstitials.
Czech oyster mushroom soup is deliciously spicy, flavored with typical spices such as crushed caraway seeds, paprika powder, or dried marjoram. The soup is fairly filling and with a slice of rye bread, is rich enough for lunch or dinner.
➜ Pronunciation
The Czech name for this recipe is "polévka z hlívy ústřičné". Hlíva ústřičná is the Czech name for oyster mushroom. I've recorded a short audio clip of the Czech pronunciation so you'll know how to order the soup if you find yourself in one of the cozy pubs in Prague or another Czech city!
➜ Ingredients you will need
To make homemade oyster mushroom soup from scratch, you will need the following:
- Fresh oyster mushroom; I recommend the oyster mushroom variety. These look like clusters of mushrooms with small stems.
- Yellow kitchen onions
- Fresh garlic
- Pork lard; the best frying fat used by Czech grannies. A fine substitute for lard is sunflower or canola oil.
- Caraway seeds; crushed. In the Czech Republic, you can buy crushed caraway seeds in any grocery store. However, you can easily crush caraway seeds at home - read how to grind spices by hand (even without a mortar and pestle).
- Sweet paprika powder; my fav is Hungarian paprika powder
- All-purpose flour; to thicken the soup
- Vegetable broth or just water. Oyster mushrooms can make a mild mushroom broth for soup. The liquid should be lukewarm.
- Salt
- Black pepper; ground
- Dried marjoram; one of the typical Czech spices
➜ Equipment
I like to make soups in a cast iron Dutch oven with a thick bottom and a solid lid. I used an 8-inch (20 cm) diameter cast iron pot with a capacity of about 2 quarts (2 liters) to prep this soup according to the basic recipe.
➜ How to make oyster mushroom soup
Preparing the mushrooms and veggies
STEP 1: Peel and finely chop the onion. Strip the garlic cloves of their skins and crush or press them.
Wash and drain the mushrooms under running water. Remove the stiff ends from the stems. Cut the remaining oyster mushrooms into bite-sized slices.
Making soup base
STEP 2: Heat the lard in a suitable saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and oyster mushroom bites. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
STEP 3: Reduce the heat to one-third. Add paprika powder, crushed caraway seeds, and all-purpose flour. Stir and fry for about half a minute, no longer.
STEP 4: Remove the pot of sautéed vegetables and mushrooms from the heat. Add about a cup of lukewarm vegetable broth or water and stir well to prevent lumping. Add another cup and stir again. Return the soup pot to the heat and add the remaining liquid. Whisk well.
Finishing the oyster mushroom soup
STEP 5: Season with salt and ground pepper. Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
STEP 6: Finally, add the dried marjoram and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Stir one last time and the oyster mushroom soup is ready to serve!
MY TIP: Rub the marjoram between your fingers beforehand to add more flavor to the soup.
➜ Serving
This soup is hearty enough to replace lunch or dinner. Add a slice of fresh rye bread and you have a comfort food that not only tastes great but will keep you full for a long time.
Sprinkle the soup with chopped green parsley for a nicer presentation when serving.
➜ Storage tips
- If you have leftover soup, let it cool completely and refrigerate. It will keep for about four days.
- Soups thickened with roux are usually even thicker the next day. Heat your portion in a saucepan on the stove and stir in a tablespoon of water.
- The soup also freezes well. Transfer chilled soup to an airtight container and place in the freezer. Use within three months.
More Czech mushroom soups:
Tried this recipe?
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Spicy Oyster Mushroom Soup
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Ingredients
- 6 cloves garlic
- 3 medium onions
- 11 ounces oyster mushroom
- 2 Tablespoons pork lard (or canola/sunflower oil)
- 3 teaspoons caraway seeds roughly ground
- 1 and ½ Tablespoons sweet paprika powder Hungarian style
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon dried marjoram
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Peel and finely chop 3 medium onions. Strip 6 cloves garlic of their skins and press them.
- Wash and drain 11 ounces oyster mushroom under running water. Remove the stiff ends from the stems. Cut the remaining oyster mushrooms into bite-sized slices.
- Heat 2 Tablespoons pork lard in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and oyster mushroom bites. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Reduce the heat to one-third. Add 1 and ½ Tablespoons sweet paprika powder, 3 teaspoons caraway seeds, and 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour. Stir and fry for about half a minute, no longer.
- Remove the pot of sautéed vegetables and mushrooms from the heat source. Add about a cup of lukewarm vegetable broth and whisk well to prevent lumping. Add another cup and stir again. Return the soup pot to the heat and add the remaining liquid. Whisk well.
- Season with salt and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper. Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Finally, add 1 Tablespoon dried marjoram and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Stir one last time and the oyster mushroom soup is ready to serve!
Notes
- The basic recipe makes 4-6 portions.
- SERVING: This soup is hearty enough to replace lunch or dinner. Add a slice of fresh rye bread and you have a comfort food that not only tastes great but will keep you full for a long time.
- Sprinkle the soup with chopped green parsley for a nicer presentation when serving.
- Soups thickened with roux are usually even thicker the next day. Heat your portion in a saucepan on the stove and stir in a tablespoon of water.
Adam says
Made this tonight, absolutely delicious, very filling and that ever so similar textura žvýkačky. Thank you.
Anicka Cooklikeczechs.com says
Hello Adam, thank you so much for your comment and feedback! I am glad you liked the recipe!
AB says
Hi, would like to know at which step we add the garlic?
Jozie says
Hello, Petra.
You don't say if you figured 4 or 6 portions for the nutritional info.
Figuring on four, the sodium content of 961 mg. per serving seems extremely high. I'm in the USA where 2300 mg per day is all that is recommended, so this would be 41% of a daily allotment before the rye bread.
However, maybe the figure is not right. Using regular packaged vegetable broth, and dividing the recipe into four servings, I'm getting about 600 mg sodium per serving. That's without added salt (the broth will be salty enough for me) and using vegetable oil instead of lard, which would add about 4 mg per serving. To get to 960 mg. per serving, if I calculated right, one would have to add about an extra two tablespoons of salt to the soup, which seems like an awful lot to me, although maybe Czech food is much saltier than I am used to.
I also cannot figure out where 7 g. of sugar per serving is coming from. Onions are the only ingredient listed with a sugar content of more than a minuscule amount.
In any case, I am about to make it. It does sound delicious. But if you have any insight about why the nutritional info values for sodium and sugar look high, please share it! Thanks.
Petra Kupská says
Hi Jozie, thank you for your comment! The nutritional values provided per serving are based on the assumption that the recipe yields four servings. These values are calculated using the Spoonacular app, as I specify in the Nutrition disclosure. It's important to note that precise nutritional values may vary depending on the specific brands of ingredients utilized in the recipe. The app calculates averages rather than exact values. For the utmost accuracy, I recommend to conduct your own calculations using your preferred nutrition calculator, taking into account the precise quantities of ingredients and specific brands chosen for your recipe. Anyway, this recipe for oyster mushroom soup is very tasty, so if you decide to give it a try, I believe you will be happy with the result!
Arduk Obrbel says
Hi, do we use the garlic or not?
If yes, at which step?
THX, AO
Mira says
You have these options for when to add garlic: Garlic added at the beginning: First, fry the chopped onion in fat, then add the crushed garlic. When heated, it will release a pleasant aroma and transfer its flavor to the soup - be careful not to burn the garlic. Otherwise, the food will be bitter.
Garlic added at the end: When the soup is almost ready, add the crushed garlic and marjoram. After a while, set the soup aside and do not cook any longer, as cooking for too long will deprive you of the wonderful garlic flavor.
You can combine both methods and add the garlic twice.
Petra Kupská | Cook Like Czechs says
Hi Arduk, as Mara mentioned, you can add the garlic both at the beginning of cooking and at the end to really bring out that amazing flavor. I actually recommend using both methods!
Sorry about that, I forgot to include it in the ingredients list. Thanks for catching it!
Jim Nicholas` says
Vynikající recept! Děkuji, milá Petro!