Beetroot Soup with Dumplings

For the dumplings: toast buckwheat on medium heat in a dry pan until aromatic. Add vegetable broth and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to swell.

Cut bread into cubes and soak in lukewarm milk. Strain buckwheat through a sieve and season with cumin powder, coriander, salt and pepper. Combine eggs with bread and mix well, add chives and buckwheat. Mix well to form dough. Place dough on a wet kitchen towel and form elongated dumplings. Tie towels' ends loosely together and cook dumplings in boiling salted water for about 20 minutes. 

For the soup: peel onions and garlic and chop finely.

Cut cabbage into quarters and remove stalk, cut crosswise into thin strips. Peel beetroots and carrots, cut in half ot quarters lengthwise and cut into thin slices.

Heat butter in a saucepan and saute onions and garlic until soft. Add cabbage, beetroots and carrots and saute briefly. Add vegetable broth, vinegar, bay leaf, cumin powder and coriander and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes.

Cut cucumbers into thin sticks, add to soup and season with salt and pepper.