Radio România Internațional

Tag: soup

  • Sorrel dishes

    Sorrel dishes

    The Romanian village world used to have a saying: ‘when sorrel unfurls its leaves from the warming ground in early spring, you are set for your daily meal’. Sorrel is a generous plant, its leaves are rich in vitamins and sorrel leaves can provide a good, nourishing meal especially after the winter season, either used in salads or cooked.



    Sorrel is a hardy perennial plant with long, spear-shaped leaves, which grows in uncultivated gardens and meadows in Romania. Across Romania’s regions, sorrel has been given various local names, being used in salads, soups and meat dishes. In the Romanian traditional households, the sorrel root was used to obtain various dyes.




    In the southern Romanian region of Oltenia, people traditionally prepare ‘sorrel dolls’, a quick recipe for the people tilling the land. For this recipe, you need to wash the sorrel leaves well and remove any tough stalks. The leaves are best shredded, but, for this recipe, you need to layer and roll them up into ‘fat cigars’ and then tie the leaves together with thread. Sprinkle the leaves with oil and fry, turning on each side. After cooking, remove the thread, place the leaves in a bowl, and add chopped cayenne pepper, and a thinly sliced carrot and onion previously boiled in salted water. This dish can be seasoned with a little vinegar.



    Another quick sorrel recipe is the peasant sorrel omelette. For this recipe, besides sorrel leaves, you need a bunch of green onions, brined cheese, a bunch of parsley or dill and, of course, eggs. Wash the sorrel leaves well, and cut them into strips. Melt butter in a frying pan or use oil instead, dice the green onions and put them into the pan together with the sorrel leaves, the beaten eggs and the finely chopped parsley or dill, and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with grated brined cheese.



    Sorrel leaves are also used to make soup. For soup you need 20-30 sorrel leaves, one carrot, one onion, a bell pepper, a cup of rice, bors – which is the Romanian for the sour liquid obtained from fermented wheat bran, tomato paste and salt. Remove the sorrel leaves’ tough stocks, blanch and drain. Finely chop the carrot, onion and bell pepper and sauté them in oil. Add water and boil together with the sorrel leaves and a cup of rice. When almost cooked, add bors to the soup, which was previously boiled, two tablespoons of tomato paste and season with salt to taste. You can also season the soup with sour cream or add pieces of smoked gammon. Sorrel leaves can also be used in purees served as a side dish to steak. (tr. L. Simion)

  • Nettle-based dishes

    Nettle-based dishes


    Nettles are among the plants heralding
    the advent of spring. They grow naturally,
    nearby waters or on the outskirts of forests. Eating nettles is a well-known
    procedure for the detoxification of our body. The young nettle leaves are
    usually plucked in March and early April. They are plucked manually by tearing
    the stalks. When we do that, it is recommended that we wear gloves since
    nettles are extremely stingy. We recall the nettles’ irritating hairs grow long
    before the nettles become mature. The nettles must be plucked in unpolluted
    areas, which means that, for instance, we must avoid the nettles growing by the
    side of the road, as they may have elements of exhaust gas. Having plucked the
    nettles, you need to remove the leaves one by one and wash them thoroughly,
    until no trace of dirt or sand can be detected. The nettle leaves must then be
    put in a pot with boiling water. Bring the water to boiling point a couple of
    times. Using a skimmer, take out the nettles and drain them. Traditionally, the
    juice in which the nettles were boiled is a natural remedy. According to the
    elders, the juice where the nettles were boiled can be drunk in the morning, on
    an empty stomach, as a detoxification procedure.


    Soup but also thick soup can be
    prepared using the nettles. We need half a kilogram of nettles, two small
    onions, a little bit of oil and a couple of garlic cloves. Wash the nettle
    leaves several times, then put them to the boil together with the
    finely-chopped onions. Drain the nettle leaves, then mash them, together with
    the onion. Add the juice in which they boiled, obtaining a rather thick soup.
    Add a little bit of crushed garlic and salt to the taste. Serve immediately.


    For the thick soup, we need half a
    kilo of nettle, two carrots, one celeriac, a couple of fresh onion sprigs, a
    cup of rice. Scald the nettles in boiling water, then finely-cut the carrots
    and the celeriac. Put them to the boil with a little bit of salt. As soon as
    the water has reached boiling point, add the rice, the nettles and the onion
    sprigs, finely-chopped. Fifteen minutes before the end of the boiling cycle add
    half a liter of fermented wheat bran brew, which was boiled separately.
    Sprinkle minced lovage leaves on top of the thick soup. Serve immediately.


    The nettle leaves can make the main
    ingredient for fasting dishes. They also go with sour cream, butter or even
    eggs. Boil the nettles with a little bit of salt, with a finely-chopped onion,
    then mash them and mix them with a little bit of oil, sour cream, butter or
    even garlic sauce. The nettle leaves cream best goes with poached eggs and
    polenta as a main course. In combination with rice, we can obtain a pilaff,
    also served as a main course. Enjoy!

  • Dishes from Muntenia, southern Romania

    Dishes from Muntenia, southern Romania

    Today we invite you to Muntenia, a province in southern Romania, to introduce to you dishes from this region located between the Carpathians and the Danube.



    The region was known as Wallachia in the Middle Ages and old documents contain references to the parties thrown by the countrys rulers and high-ranking boyars as well as about the abundance of dishes and exquisite food they used to lavish on their visitors.



    Some references mention up to 60 courses served and the guests were supposed to clear the plates, otherwise their gesture would have been regarded as an insult to the hosts. Mutton, pork and poultry dishes were the main courses served during the parties and banquets of the Middle Ages Wallachia.



    Beef was avoided because it was believed to come from an animal that was used for heavy works. The region has built its own gastronomical culture influenced by the cuisine in the Orient, in Greece, France or Italy.



    Various sorts of vegetables, as well as fish, milk, pastry and fruit are used for dishes specific to this region. Aspic dishes from chicken, goose or pork were a traditional staple in Wallachia, and foreign visitors were often taken by surprise when served this kind of dish, as well as by fruit or vegetable preserved in brine, which usually accompanied heavy meals.



    In todays edition of this cooking feature wed like to invite you to try to cook a traditional sour meat and vegetable soup from southern Romania. For this you need a piece of meat, which could be pork, beef or poultry and several vegetables: one celeriac, two parsnips, a couple of carrots, two potatoes, green peas, bell peppers, a chunk of cabbage, and a big onion.



    You also need tomato juice and some herbs, like fresh parsley and lovage. First cube the meat and boil it. Add the chopped vegetables and sour it with fermented wheat bran brew 15 minutes before taking the soup off the cooking range. After the meat and vegetables are done, add the tomato juice, the finely chopped herbs, and salt to taste. Serve the soup hot, with sour cream and fresh hot pepper.


  • Tripe Soup

    Tripe Soup

    One of the most popular sour soups in Romania, which can be found in any guesthouse or restaurant across the country, is tripe soup. It is as popular as another Romanian traditional dish, the famous “mititei, minced meat sausages.



    The tripe soup is made with beef tripe, garlic, sour cream and vinegar and it originates in the Balkan region. In Bulgaria it is called “shkembe soup and it also contains pork and lamb, in Serbia its name is “skembici and it is usually prepared with a lot of paprika, both sweet and hot, just like in the Czech Republic and Hungary.



    As to the assimilation of the tripe soup by the Romanian cuisine, journalist, writer and TV producer specializing in culinary themes, Radu Anton Roman, described the tripe soup as something strange and subtle, which speaks volumes of the Romanian people. It stinks but its very tasty if you manage to get used to it. It may be harmful to health, its a fatty thick soup that will bring you extra kilos but its too good to refuse it. It originates in Turkey but it feigns being all Romanian. It is equally sour and sweet, hot and velvety, fatty but still delicate, said Radu Anton Roman.



    Now here is the recipe for tripe soup.



    You need almost 2 kg of beef tripe, vegetables for soup, namely one carrot, one parsley, one celeriac, one or two onions, one red pepper or capsicum, sour cream, 2 eggs, garlic, vinegar, pepper seeds and salt.



    First thing you have to do is wash the tripe really well, when it is clean it should be white. The purpose of the vegetables is to flavor the soup, so you will take them out later. Place the tripe and the whole, peeled vegetables in a big pot and boil for 2 hours or more. Add the onions later. Leave to boil on medium heat and towards the end of the boiling process add around 10 pepper seeds and 2 or 3 bay leaves.



    Take out the tripe, strain it and leave it to cool, then cut the tripe into small pieces. Also strain the vegetables, leaving the broth nice and clear. Puree the vegetables and add them back to the broth. Also add the tripe pieces back to the broth alongside the red pepper, which was previously cut into small slices. Leave the broth to boil until the pepper becomes soft. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks with the sour cream and add two tablespoons of vinegar. Pour this mixture into the pot after removing it from the heat. Add salt to taste. When served, the tripe soup can be garnished with more sour cream, minced garlic and vinegar. Some people like to serve the tripe soup with hot pepper on the side.



    Enjoy!


    (translated by: Lacramioara Simion)