Dishes from Moldavia

This edition of the Cooking Show is devoted to the ongoing contest on RRI ‘Iasi- Historical Capital of Moldavia.

Ștefan Baciu, 21.07.2019, 14:00

Today we’ll be presenting you with dishes from Moldavia, a region in eastern Romania famous for its dishes and wines. Actually each region of Romania stands out through traditional specialties, some of them bearing the mark PDO — protected designation of origin, such as the wines. Moldavia boasts such specialties with designation of origin as tochitura moldoveneasca — Moldavian stew or sarmale moldovenesti — Moldavian cabbage rolls. It also has special dishes that are simply typical of the region like the ‘poale-n brau’ cheese pies or the minced meat patties known as ‘parjoale’.

In Moldavia’s traditional communities, one popular breakfast consists of two fried eggs with fried pork lard known as fatback cracklins and grated cheese. For lunch, Moldavians have some favorite dishes such as potato or bean stew, stewed cabbage, bean soup or chicken giblets soup usually made with carrots, rice, onion and parsley root garnished with egg yolk and soured with natural sour juice made of fermented wheat bran, maze flour and water. Giblets soup is also served after long parties with lots of wine.

Since we’ve mentioned wine, let’s not forget that Moldavia boasts a rich offer of wines, many from Romanian grape varieties such as “Galbena of Odobeşti” and of “Şarba” from Vrancea region, Romania’s largest wine-producing region, “Busuioaca de Bohotin” from Huşi area, “Grasa”, “Feteasca” and “Frâncuşa” from the Cotnari vineyards in Iaşi.

Let’s now see the recipe for meat patties. They are roughly the size of a hamburger, and are made with pork, beef, or both. The meat mixture also contains soaked stale bread, two medium-sized chopped onions, 4 eggs, chopped dill, salt and pepper. After kneading the mixture well, douse them in flour, then soak them in beaten egg, then in breadcrumbs, and fry them in vegetable oil. Meat patties can be served with bean stew or mashed potatoes.

Now here is the recipe for ‘poale-n brau’ cheese pie. These pies are prepared from leavened dough which you will have to flatten with a rolling pin. Cut the flattened dough into small squares of side 15 cm. Place a mixture of sweet cheese and raisins in the center of the square dough and wrap, bringing the 4 corners to the center, then bake! Enjoy! (translation by L. Simion)