Czechs like pickles.  The most popular preserved vegetables are gherkins, kysele okurky, literally sour cucumbers, traditionally produced in South Moravia.  They are sometimes called nakladane okurky - pickled cucumbers, or simply nakladacky.  Those come in a jar, but at the start of the perserving season, you can buy gherkins at open-air markets, straight from the barrel.  Those are prepared to a different recipe - a quicker one - hence the name rychlokvasky - fast brewed gherkins.

A typical vegetable that is not as popular anywhere else is the cauliflower - kvd tak.  It is too hard and bland to eat raw, but there are a number of simple recipes.  Apart from the pickled variety, you can eat califlower, fried wiener-schnitzel-style - smaseny kvd tak or finely chopped with eggs fried in butter kvd tak jako mozecek - cauliflower brain style. It dosen't sound appetizing, I know.

Another typical summer vegetable dish is leco which is a Hungarian word.  It is a mix of stewed peppers, tomatoes, pieces of smoked sausage, and eggs.  Believe it or not, it tastes quite nice, although it is quite heavy.

Of course, Czechs also love sauerkraut - kysele zeli or kysane zeli - literally sour cabbage.  It goes wonderfully with roast pork and dumplings.  Vepro-knedlo-zelo is considered as the most typical Czech dish and can go with either sauerkraut or cabbage.

To make things more difficult for themselves, Czechs also like to make kedlubnove zeli - that is grated kohlrabi cooked with all the ingredients as if it was cabbage.  Again, it goes with pork and dumplings.

A tasty seasoning for boiled beef is strouhany kren - grated horseradish, sometimes mixed with apples.  Some say the powerful taste of horseradish can only be washed down by beer.

Vegetable dishes may be healthy, but they are not at all popular with children, a fact well-known to parents worldwide.  But one meal which is accepted and even favored by most Czech kids is rajska omacka - tomato sauce.  The dish consists of boiled beef and bread dumplings swimming in sweet sauce made of tomato puree.  Children love it - maybe because it is so sweet and so red.

So till next time. Dobrou chut' - bon appetit.

-Pavla Horakova
Radio Prague

Czech Traditional Fruit Dishes 

Czech Summer Fruit

Czech Spices