Meatball and Vegetable Soup

No restaurant serving Romanian traditional food dares not carry this recipe on its menu. It combines the classical light vegetable soup with small sized meatballs with a slightly spicy tinge, lent by black pepper.

România Internațional, 29.05.2013, 16:54

We invite you to experiment one of the most famous recipes in the Romanian cuisine, at least as soups go. No restaurant serving Romanian traditional food dares not carry this recipe on its menu. It combines the classical light vegetable soup with small sized meatballs with a slightly spicy tinge, lent by black pepper.

Its special appeal is also lent by a combination of fresh green lovage and “borsh”, the souring liquid made by fermenting wheat bran. Take about half a kilo of lean ground beef, one head of bone for the stock, three eggs, three onions, three carrots, one green pepper one piece of celeriac, one parsnip, three tablespoons of rice, one bunch of fresh dill and one of green parsley, one of fresh lovage, one teaspoon of paprika, one teaspoon of dried tarragon, salt and pepper to taste, and four tablespoons of tomato paste.

Boil the bone with a bit of salt, skimming the liquid. When it is boiled, take off it any meat, leaving it in the liquid, and start boiling the chopped vegetables. For the meatballs boil the rice and rinse, mix in one minced onion, half the dill and the parsley, chopped, the paprika and black pepper, as well as the separated egg whites, and mix well with the minced meat.

Form carefully the little balls and set aside. When the vegetables are well boiled in the stock, start putting in the meatballs carefully. You can tell the meatballs are done when they start floating. Put in the tomato paste and borsh, and bring everything to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste, then remove the bone. Throw in the remaining herbs and serve with sour cream and a green chili. Enjoy!