An extraordinary life.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

The world is her home, so to speak. Leena Lemoine is intimate with scores of cultures—through their cuisines. A cook in the Vasant Vihar residence of Lithuanian ambassador Diana Mickevičienė, she has a friendly disposition and an infectious laughter (see her photo with the ambassador). One evening, after preparing a dinner of Lithuanian dishes—Bulviniai blynai and cheese donuts—Leena sits down with ambassador Mickevičienė on the latter’s living room sofa and graciously agrees to give a sense of her remarkable career. She started working years ago at the Delhi home of two Spanish ladies. Initially, she explains, she was mostly skilled in Indian khana, but her kind employers taught her about their country’s cuisine, and soon she was making paella and tortilla. The Spanish ladies also enrolled Leena in a culinary “class” in Neeti Bagh for her to learn “English food.” After the two ladies returned to their homeland, Leena continued being a cook in Delhi, working through a series of home kitchens–in French, Italian, Turkish and Canadian households respectively. Her present employer helped her learn the essentials of Lithuanian cooking. Today, Leena has made one of that country’s most iconic dishes—Šaltibarščiai. It is Lithuania’s cold beetroot soup, colloquially known as pink soup, and it happens to be just the perfect thing for Delhi heatwaves–fresh and soothing. Leena agrees to share the veggie version of the recipe. You may want to cook it on 31st May, the day of the Pink Soup Festival in Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

Pink soup, for 10

Ingredients
500g beetroot
500g cucumber
1.5liter Mother Dairy dahi
A bit of spring onions, chopped
A bit of fresh dill, chopped
Salt to taste

Method

1. Boil the beetroot, just the way you would boil the aloo for aloo paratha. Afterwards, peel and grate the beetroots. Add some lemon juice to neutralize the sweetness of the beet. Keep aside in a dish.
2. Peel and grate the cucumbers. Keep aside in a dish.
3. Pour the dahi into a large bowl, and bear it into a smooth consistency.
4. Mix dahi with grated beet and cucumber, you may like to add some boiled water for a more soupy consistency.
5. ⁠Add 1 tablespoon salt, or more to taste.
6. Add some of the chopped spring onion and dill leaves into soup, keeping the rest in small bowls to be served separately as extra garnish.