Meatball soup

Meatball soup is one of the most appreciated dishes in Romanian cuisine. Similar dishes can also be found in the international cuisine. In Italy, for instance, there are beef meatballs soups with lots of vegetables, just like in the Mexican cuisine. The Turkish cuisine offers a soup with minced beef or lamb. In all these recipes, the minced meat shaped like a meatball or a flat meatloaf is roasted a little bit before being added to the broth. However, in the Romanian recipe, the meatballs are put straight to the boil. A distinction should also be made between the sour meatball soup, with fermented wheat bran brew used as a souring agent, and the thick meatball soup, for which tomatoes and sour grapes can be used, as well as lemon juice.

For the meatball soup, we need around 700 grams of minced beef, one piece of boned beef shin, two carrots, one parsnip and one parsley root, one celery, a cup of rice, one onion, two eggs, tomato juice, fermented wheat bran brew, one bunch of parsley and another one of dill.

Put the beef shin to the boil in around 4 liters of water. Skim, then add the grated root vegetables. Add bell peppers and tomatoes, finely-chopped. When boiled, take out the meat shin and cut it into small pieces, then put it back in boiling broth.  Finely-chop the onion, then mix it with the minced meat, the two eggs, the finely-chopped dill and the rice. Add a little bit of salt. After 20 minutes, mould little balls of meat, traditionally known as perisoare, then put them in the boiling soup. Add the tomato juice and the fermented wheat bran brew, and then boil for another five minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the finely-chopped parsley leaves. Simmer for around ten minutes. Serve the broth in large bowls with a little bit of sour cream as garnish. Keep in mind that it goes best with a red pepper. Enjoy!