The literal translation is simply cold soup, which undersells it badly. Aukstā zupa is a bowl of chilled kefir, colored a startling pink by cooked grated beets, filled with crisp cucumber, radish and scallion, and scattered with chopped egg and a great deal of dill. The finishing touch is on the side plate: hot boiled potatoes, eaten between cold spoonfuls. It is the soup of late spring and summer, and of the Midsummer celebrations of Jāņi, when the whole country moves outdoors.

It needs no stove except for the beets, eggs and potatoes, which can be cooked the day before, and it is the most refreshing thing you can put in front of a crowd on a hot afternoon. If the grandstand is baking, this is the cure.

Beets and eggs

Ingredients

• 2 medium beets
• 3 large eggs

The soup

Ingredients

• 1 quart (1 liter) cold kefir
• 1 medium cucumber
• 6 radishes
• 4 scallions
• 1/2 cup (about 15 g) fresh dill
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice or pickled cucumber brine
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) cold water

Hot potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb (680 g) small new potatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon (15 g) butter

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