Sorrel, a sour green food staple of Eastern European Jewish cooking, has been used for centuries to make a tasty soup high in vitamin A and is excellent for your liver.
Known as Shav or green borscht, it's delicious both hot or cold. The original cleansing soup, my great-grandmother served it cold with a dollop of sour cream and a hearty black bread. If you can't find sorrel, you can substitute dandelion greens; they are more bitter than sour but another great green to support your liver health. To my delight, I found sorrel condensed to a pesto consistency in a Russian specialty store a block from my house. I combine the condensed sorrel to taste (about 4 tablespoons) with dandelion greens.
How does this tie into Chinese medicine?
In Chinese medicine dietary theory, sour is the flavor of the liver. If you've gone to an acupuncturist complaining about how stressed and on edge you feel, you've probably heard about liver qi stagnation. Stress, lack of exercise, a fatty, greasy diet, drugs, and alcohol can all contribute to liver qi stagnation. What does liver qi stagnation feel like? Irritability, frustration, anger, depression, constriction in your ribs or chest, sighing, belching, migraines, PMS symptoms, are some symptoms associated with stagnant liver qi. My Chinese medicine professors called this "NYC syndrome."
Adding bitter/sour greens to your diet is an excellent addition to your holistic healthcare arsenal. Including any of these greens daily will be a great start to building liver blood and smoothing your liver qi.
Shav (green borscht)
I tweaked the classic recipe by omitting the eggs, replacing butter with olive oil, using vegetable stock instead of chicken, and adding baby potatoes. All of these amounts should be altered according to your taste.
Ingredients:
-1 pound young sorrel leaves, washed, stemmed & chopped (if you can't find sorrel, substitute dandelion greens and try to get the sorrel pesto)
-2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
-1 large minced onion
- 6 cups water or chicken stock ( I use 1/2 vegetable stock and 1/2 water )
-1 teaspon kosher salt or to taste
-2 tablespoons sugar (I omit the sugar)
- juice of 1 lemon
- baby potatoes cut into 4-6 chunks eac
- dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt in each serving if desired.
In a large saucepan, melt butter or oil, sauté sorrel (or dandelion greens) and onions for about 10 minutes or until greens are wilted, and onions are translucent. Add water and/or stock and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in sugar and lemon juice a little at a time, tasting after each addition of lemon juice, until the desired tartness is achieved.
Serve hot or cold with or without sour cream.
