Romanian food

The most popular recipes

Sarmale

Stuffed cabbage• Sarmale are enjoyed year-round in Romania, but especially for holidays like Christmas and Easter.• Cook Time: 2 hours• Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes• Ingredients:• 1 whole head cabbage, about 4 pounds• 6 tablespoons olive oil• 1 finely chopped medium onion• 2 minced garlic cloves• 2 1/2 tablespoons raw rice• 1/4 cup hot water• 1 1/2 pounds ground pork• 1 slice crustless white bread• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill• 1 teaspoon thyme• 2 teaspoons salt• 1 teaspoon black pepper• 1 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper (optional)• 2 tablespoons water• 1 cup sauerkraut juice reserved from drained sauerkraut (see below)• 1 tablespoon Vegeta• 10 black peppercorns• 4 bay leaves• 3 cups sauerkraut, drained (reserve 1 cup juice, see above), rinsed and squeezed dry• 6 strips bacon• 6 fresh dill sprigs• 2 pounds sliced tomatoes (fresh or canned)

Preparation:• Remove core from cabbage. Place whole head in a large pot filled with boiling, salted water. Cover and cook 3 minutes, or until softened enough to pull off individual

leaves. You will need about 18 leaves.

• When leaves are cool enough to handle, use a knife to cut away the thick center stem from each leaf, without cutting all the way through. Chop any remaining cabbage and set aside.

• In a large skillet, saute chopped onion, garlic and rice in 1 tablespoon olive oil, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent. Add hot water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand 5 minutes or until rice has absorbed all the water. Let cool.

• Place pork in a large bowl. Quickly dip bread in water, squeeze to remove excess water and add to meat along with onion-garlic-rice mixture, combining thoroughly. Add dill, thyme, salt, pepper, hot pepper, if using, and 2 tablespoons water. Mix completely but lightly so as not to toughen the meat.

• In a medium bowl, mix 3 cups water with sauerkraut juice, Vegeta, peppercorns and bay leaves, and set aside.

• Place about 1/2 cup of meat mixture on each cabbage leaf. Roll away from you to encase the meat. Flip the right side of the leaf to the middle, then flip the left side. You will have something that looks like an envelope. Once again, roll away from you to create a neat little roll.

• Using 2 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil, coat a large, lidded Dutch oven or casserole dish. Mix reserved chopped cabbage with sauerkraut and place some in the bottom of the prepared Dutch oven.

• Place 3 strips bacon across sauerkraut and cover with a layer of stuffed cabbages. Add another layer of sauerkraut, bacon strips and stuffed cabbage. Then top with remaining sauerkraut. Spread dill sprigs on top and sprinkle with remaining olive oil. Pour sauerkraut juice-water mixture over all.

• Heat oven. Place Dutch oven over high heat and bring to a boil, lower heat to medium-low, cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Transfer to oven and cook 1 1/2 hours. Then add sliced tomatoes, cover and cook another 45 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking another 15 minutes.

• When ready to serve, remove bay leaves, and accompany sarmale with boiled potatoes, pasta or mamaliga (polenta).

Ciorba de perisoare

• “Sour meatball soup”• Since the first recipe, the one for sarmale, is a

very elaborate one, we hope we didn’t discourage you!

• Soups are always in the menu in our homes, and this soup is a very yummy one! Try to make it at home, unless you want to come visit us and we’ll make it for you!

Sour meatball soup

ingredients• Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes (preparation: 50 minutes; cooking: 30-40 minutes)

• Makes: 8 servings

• Ingredients:• 1 pound grounded meat (mixed beef and pork)

• 1 pound beef (or veal) with bones

• 2 small onions• 2 slices of bread

• 2 tablespoons rice• salt• ground black pepper

• 1 parsley root• 3-4 carrots• 1 parsnip root

• 3-4 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1 bunch of parsley leaves

• 2-3 tablespoons vinegar

Preparation• Bring to boil 6 cups of water in a pot. Finely slice: 1 onion, the parsley, the

parsnip and the carrots and put them in the water. Add the beef (or veal) meat.In the mean time soak the bread in water then squeeze it. Mash the bread with a fork.Mix the ground meat with the other finely chopped onion, the mashed bread and the rice, and season with salt and ground black pepper. For a more tender meat composition add 2-3 tablespoons of water. Make small meat balls rolling them with wet hands.When the vegetables become tender put the meat balls in the boiling water. Reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes. When the soup is almost done the meatballs are coming to the surface as the soup simmers.Add the tomato paste and stir. Finely chop the parsley and add it to the soup, and then season with salt and vinegar.The soup is delicious served with a bit of sour cream, and a hot pepper on the side.

The dessert

• Cozonac (it ressembles Panettone)• It is a traditional dessert for the Christmas

Holidays. Romanian panettone is traditionally filled with a walnut based filling but can also be enjoyed simple or with raisins. dried fruit, chocolate chips, or jelly candies. This dessert is absolutely delicious but requires a bit of work to make the dough. Our moms learned how to make it from their moms and so on.

You must taste this!

Ingredients• Preparation time: 3 hours• Makes: 2 -3 loaves

• Ingredients:• 1 kg bread flour

• 6 eggs• 300 g sugar

• 250 g butter• 2 cups (1/2 l ) milk

• 1 pinch salt

• 6 teaspoons dry yeast

• 100 g raisins• grated lemon peel

• rum extract

• vanilla extract• You can also use fresh yeast instead of dry yeast for this recipe. If this is the case, add the following ingredients:• 80 g fresh yeast• 2-3 teaspoons bread flour• 2 tablespoons sugar• 1/2 cup of milk

Preparation• For best results, all the ingredients must be kept at the room temperature at least 3 hours before preparing

the panettone. • Beat 3 eggs + 3 yolks with sugar, salt. Add grated lemon peel, rum extract and vanilla extract. Let it rest for 15-20

minutes.• If you use fresh yeast, mix the yeast with 2 tablespoon sugar. Melt it in a 1/2 cup milk and mix everything with

2-3 teaspoons flour. Let it rise. Mix the flour kept at the room temperature with the raised yeast. Alternatively, if you use dry yeast, just mix it with the flour.

• Pour luke-warm milk into the eggs' composition and then pour the resulting mixture over the flour mixed with the yeast.

• Add slowly the melted butter and knead the dough until it can easily separate from the hands. Add the raisins and knead some more.

• Cover and let it rest in a warm place until the size of the dough doubles.• Put a piece of dough in a baking form (fill the form only at the bottom - leave plenty of space for the dough to

rise). Cover and let it rest and rise in a warm place, until the dough reaches the top edge.• Brush the dough with beaten egg mixed with two teaspoons water.• Preheat the oven and bake it on the medium heat for 50-60 minutes.• Let it cool about half an hour before flipping the loaves on a serving plate.• Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Pofta buna! (Bon apetit!)

• By Madalina and Alexandra, Baneasa