Recipes from Dobrudja

A province stretching between the Danube and the Black Sea, Dobrudja has many strong oriental influences because of its Turkish-Tartar minority. These influences are also visible in the regions cuisine.

Ștefan Baciu, 18.10.2015, 15:10

A province stretching between the Danube and the Black Sea, Dobrudja has many strong oriental influences because of its Turkish-Tartar minority. These influences are also visible in the regions cuisine.

Dominated by fish and mutton dishes, the food of Dobrudga also includes poultry meat, beef and pork. The main dishes are usually accompanied by rice and vegetables side-dishes. Sheep dairy products, such as yoghurt and telemea, a white cheese similar to Greek feta cheese, are also used in the preparation of other dishes. Some of the regions typical dishes are different types of fish soup, marinated fish, fish stew, rice pilaf, different salads, mutton sausages and spit-roasted lamb, as well as Turkish dishes such as kebab, cured sausages, moussaka, made with aubergines, minced meat, green peppers, tomatoes and potatoes, and rice side-dishes.

Last but not least, Dobrudja is well-known for its sweet dishes with raisins and Turkish delight, not to mention baklava, which is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of unleavened dough filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey.

While consisting of vegetables such as tomatoes, green peppers, onion and cucumbers, the Dobrudjan salad is different from other salads. It also includes two hard-boiled eggs, olives, cream, telemea cheese, lemon juice and thyme. Chop the tomatoes into medium-sized pieces, finely-slice the cucumbers and the green peppers lengthwise and the onion. Mix everything together. You can also add some lettuce, finely cut. Prepare a sauce mixing the boiled yolks with some cream, finely cut egg-whites and finely-cut olives. Add a bit of lemon juice and ground thyme and mix components well into one another. Pour the sauce into the salad bowl with the vegetables, and grate the telemea cheese on top. This salad can also served as a side-dish for grilled meat.

We end with another typical, mouth-watering dish from Dobrudga: mutton shish kebab. You need one kilo of mutton leg, several onions, pepper, ground thyme and some wine. Finely slice the meat, add a bit of salt and marinate it in wine, thyme and pepper for a couple of hours. Grill the meat on a skewer together with the onion and serve with pickles or sauerkraut salad.

Enjoy!