Akroshka or Chlodnik (East European cold soup)

акрошка

Main ingredients:

1 english cucumber
2 medium-large potatoes, boiled in skin and cleaned
4 eggs hard boiled
1 can of green peas
2 bunches of green onion (8 stems)
a small bunch of fresh dill
1L jar of organic 3.8% fat keffir or container of sour cream
medium or firm tofu (optional for extra protein)
1.5L of boiled and cooled water
lime or lemon juice

Directions:

1. Cut all the ingredients into small chuncks
2. Put potatoes, cucumber, eggs, can of green peas, dill, green onion, and tofu into big pot
3. Add about 1L of boiled, cooled water
4. Add 1L of keffir OR a 1/2 or full container of fatty sour cream
5. Add 1tbsp of lime or lemon juice
6. Add salt to taste
7. Add more water and keffir as needed, and stir well
8. Cool in the fridge

Notes:

The soup should be filling, so don't make it too liquidy. If it's too watery, add keffir, salt, and more lime juice. Some acidity is key. In my family, we always added a spoon or two of mayo, but this is not necessary. You can eat the soup as soon as it's chilled, but if you can, let it stand for an hour.

Red variety:

This soup can also be made by using some barsht (beet soup) as a base. You can buy barsht or beet juice in stores or you can quickly boil beets in some water with onion and carrot to make a basic stock. Beet akroshka has a very different taste. You should try it.
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Peppers stuffed with rice, Russian style

фаршированый перец

Main ingredients:

1 can of tomato juice, salted
2 large red peppers
1/2 cup brown rice (try substituting roasted buckwheat)
1/4 cup vegetable protein flakes (TVP, ground beef substitute) or quinoa or Mushrooms (shiitake or portobello work well)
Vegan cheese, hard (optional)

Recommended flavoring:

Whatever you want
Soy sauce
Chilli paste
Pepper

About the dish:

This is a fantastic, flexible dish that is always a hit. It's a great way to eat rice and a great way use peppers. It stores well and makes a great lunch portion. The pepper is here shown cut open.

Directions:

1. Cut out the stem from the pepper, leaving a hole (Do not cut off the entire top part as there will be nothing left to prevent the filling from coming out and will also be a waste of perfectly good pepper)
2. Steam the pepper very lightly or microwave just to soften it (makes stuffing easier)
3. In a pot, cook the rice. Cook well to make it stickier
4. While the rice is cooking, put vegetable protein flakes with 1/4 cup water on medium heat. Add mushrooms if using.
5. To the vegetable protein, add plenty of soy or other sauce, lime juice, any spices, some chilli paste for heat. This part is entirely up to you
6. Fry protein for a few minutes and add the cooked rice
7. Mix the rice with the protein, taste, add more sauce and spices if you like
8. Stuff the mixture tightly into the peppers (Leave 1-2 tbsp of rice aside)
9. Cut a few long sticks of cheese and stuff into the peppers (optional)
10. Put peppers into a tight pot
11. Pour tomato juice over the peppers about half way (you can put peppers on the side depending on amount of juice you add and size of the pot)
12. Put remaining rice into the tomato juice
13. Bring to a light boil and cook until peppers are soft and the tomato juice has thickened a bit
14. Serve pepper in a ladel-ful of tomatoe juice
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Vegetarian Holodets (East European jellified soup)

холодец вегетарианский

Main ingredients:

Agar agar (1 part to 8 parts liquid)
1 large onion
1 small carrot
Tofu
Lime

Recommended flavoring:

Soy sauce
Miso paste
Kaffir lime leaf

About this dish:

The traditional Russian dish is made by boiling chicken and pig bones for hours in a huge pot. Pieces of chicken or egg are typically added to the broth. The broth is put in the fridge to congeal, then cut into meal-size squares, and served with some horseradish, mustard, or vinegar. Holodets varies from clear to chunky, filled with pieces of chicken and vegetables. Polish holodets (noszki or galareta mięsna) is typically clear and firm.

In this vegetarian version, the meat broth has been replaced by French onion-like broth, the pieces of chicken by chunks of tofu, and the meat gelatin from the bones by tasteless vegetarian gelatin called agar agar, derived from seaweed. There is nothing healthy about boiling meat for hours in a huge vat. The vegan broth is much healthier and the preparation time, including congealing, is reduced to an hour instead of the normal whole-day affair. In short, make a tasty broth of any kind, add agar agar, and chill.

Agar agar itself, also known as kanten, is apparently rich in fiber and folate and contains some vitamins and minerals. It has zero sugars and fat. It is available in Asian supermarkets as flakes or dry, translucent strands.

Directions:

1. Chop the onion and fry for 20-30 minutes in a pot until the onion browns
2. Add small chunks of tofu and some carrot
3. Add laurel and/or kaffir lime leaf
4. Pour 2-3 cups of water into the pot and boil for 20 minutes
5. Add lime juice, soy sauce, 1 tsp miso paste (optional), and salt to taste
6. Add a palmful (1 part to 8 of water) of agar agar and boil until it dissolves
7. Cool, cut, garnish with celantro or dill
8. Serve with a dash of vinegar and some horseradish

I found the taste and consistency to be close enough for what I wanted.
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