This quick and simple soup made of tinned (canned) salmon was not unusual in my childhood. It is not a fancy meal, but a simple and inexpensive family fix for a working day, when you haven’t got much time on hand for more complicated recipes. Despite being a budget recipe, tinned salmon soup is rather tasty, filling and satisfying with good nutrition profile for protein and good carbohydrates. And with all the choice of ingredients around today you can make it even better than it was back in my childhood. Below is the Russian / Soviet style tinned salmon soup recipe and how to make it even better.

Tinned salmon soup recipe

Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2

Ingredients

• 1 small tin (213 g net) of salmon. Opt for wild (ocean) salmon with bones and skin for more calcium
• 1/4 cup rice (use brown, wild mixed or Camargue red rice for healthier option, it is fine to use pre-cooked left over rice if you have it)
• 1 medium potato
• 1 medium carrot
• pinch or more dill seeds (to taste)
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 cups boiling water

Method

If you are using uncooked rice, put it into 2 cups of boiling water, add a bay leaf and dill seeds, get to boil and let it simmer for 15 minutes. While the rice is simmering cube your potato and grate the carrot on a large grater. Open the tin of salmon and run a narrow knife in the tin across several times to cut the fish.

If you are using pre-cooked rice, the tinned salmon soup will take even less time to cook. In this case you pour 2 cups of boiling water into the pot with the cooked rice, a bay leaf and dill seeds, get to boil and then follow the rest of the recipe as described below.

Add the cubed potato into the pot and let boil for a couple of minutes. Then pour the canned salmon and the juices in and add the carrot. Get to boil and let the canned salmon soup simmer for 5 minutes. If you want your soup thinner, add  more boiling water. Season the tinned salmon soup with black pepper and salt to taste.

Turn the gas down and let the soup sit for another 5 to 10 minutes. Serve and eat with fresh bread. Russian rye bread with butter goes really well with this soup. Enjoy!

Fresh salmon version of this soup

This salmon soup can also be prepared from the cheap ‘head and other trimmings’ salmon soup set from the shop. In this case you boil the fish separately for about 20 minutes and then filter the stock and separate good pieces of fish from the rest. Then you start from the beginning, boiling the rice in the stock and follow the recipe but instead of the canned salmon you will add the separated pieces of fish into the pot (or even add some fresh salmon fillet cubed). Salmon soup made by this recipe is good but, in my mind, requires quite a lot of time and work.