Romanian Cookery

Talking about soups and Ciorba (Tchorba), we Romanians, enjoy the benefits of a unique gastronomically blend: we have taken over the vegetable soups and added further influences to them: meatballs from the Turks, lettuce from the Austrians, dry beans with smoked meat from Germans.

We added pork in our soups during the Turkish reign because they had taken away our cattle as a tribute and then during the Austrian rule, in Transylvania, we added tarragon ( a german cooking habit). We prepare lamb borsch locally as we used to be shepherds. The other notes and shades like oil, vinegar, sour cream, borsch itself, depend on regional gastronomy use and practice.

Main Courses are also subject to plenty of odd influences including oriental ones. We have also an Austrian import originating actually in French Cooking: chicken with sour cream prepared in Bucovina. by simply replacing the french white sauce with plain Bucovina sour cream. The mushroom schnitzel from Banat was brought here by Maria Theresa along with some Swabian settlers.

A genuine Dacian dish is the "bulz" (polenta chunk with cheese) Talking about Sweets, those native Romaniandeserts are many and savory. Due to and same reason: the meeting between Oriental cooking and French cuisine, brought by the frenchified youth to the Romanian Principalities in the middle 19-een century and also with Austrian Cookery. You surely understand the result of such historically repeated influences, exposed to mutual corrections

The first recipe of appetizers  is Mashed White Beans:

400 gr. white beans;  6 onions sliced;  5-6 big garlic cloves, well crushed; oil; salt

Soak dried beans in cold water for 5-6 hours or over the night. Boil beans, 15-20 minutes in 4 liters of hot water with 1 teaspoon baking soda. Drain, then repeat two times the procedure without adding baking soda. Let beans boil in the "third water" until soften. Let boiled beans drained well until all water is gone and beans are lukewarm. Put beans in a blender, add salt and crushed garlic. 

Blend and keep adding oil until the mixture becomes creamy and smooth. Shallow fry half of the onion in a big frying pan. Stir continuously, so all onion slices become golden brown and crispy at one time. Drain on a paper towel. Proceed in the same manner with the remaining onion.

Serve well-chilled bean mash with crispy fried onion.

TIP: don`t overcook the beans - the mash will be watery. Add oil little by little, otherwise the mash may "curdle"

Salata de ardei coptzi ( Broiled bell peppers salad)  it is a very popular food, especially in summer/fall time.  it is served cold as salad or side dish.

Ingredients:
2 kg bell peppers
oil
salt
vinegar

Place a thin iron sheet directly on the fire. Broil peppers on all sides. Put them immediately in a covered pan, spread some salt, and left them cool slowly. Carefully, peel the peppers, place them on a salad plate, spread salt, oil, and red vinegar. Serve cold as salad or side dish.

Tip: use long, red, sweet pepper; they are very easy to peel. You can add some crushed garlic into the sauce.

Borș is a sour fermented juice obtained by fermenting wheat bran. Borș is traditionally used by Romanians to prepare their sour soups, (named either ciorbă, or less frequent borș), or they just drink it plain.

Borș is a sour fermented juice obtained by fermenting wheat bran. Borș is traditionally used by Romanians to prepare their sour soups, (named either ciorbă, or less frequent borș), or they just drink it plain. Borș is pronounced "borsh", and it might derive from the Ukrainian борщ, (borscht), although the fermented juice recipe is traditionally prepared in Romania mainly. 

The fermented bran juice is full of probiotics, and many of the nutrients in the cereals become more bioavailable after the fermentation, making borș a functional food. Romanians drink the fermented bran juice as is, and it is renowned as a great cure for hangovers. Although the mechanism is not known, I personally believe it's the effect of the probiotics. 

Another famous hangover cure is sauerkraut juice, another prebiotic drink. Another explanation could be the high amount of vitamin B in any fermented drink. Vitamin B is crucial for liver functioning, and alcohol burns up a lot of vitamin B. The great thing about vitamin B in bors is its bioavailability. We can absorb a lot more of it from bors than from any supplement.

How To Make Borș - Fermented Bran Juice Recipe.
Although the main ingredient is wheat bran, in many recipes cornmeal is used. I believe that the cornmeal acts as a prebiotic, selectively stimulating the growth of certain bacteria. The process of fermenting the wheat bran requires a starter, to ensure the right bacteria is cultured. Wild fermentation of borsh is always prone to spoiling because of opportunistic bacteria, so it is not recommended. However, the starter is always obtained through wild fermentation, if you don't have it. See the starter making section for more info.

How To Make the Starter for Borș
The starter is made exclusively from wheat bran, and it is a little tricky to obtain. The reason is that the bacteria that ferment the bran is wild bacteria, and you have to nail the right temperature and the right conditions for that strain to develop faster than the competitive bacteria.
Preparing the starter is the trickiest operation, if you can get them from someone who has them it's going to save you some time and energy. If you need to make your fermented bran juice arm yourself with patience and proceed. All you need is wheat bran, water, and a jar. Here are the directions:
You need a sterilized jar, make sure you sterilize it with boiled water, and not with chlorine or other chemicals. The bacteria in bors is very sensitive to chemicals, and it dies if exposed to mere traces of chemicals.
The best is the well water, but if you don't have it, you can boil regular tap water to sterilize it, and to remove the chlorine, and cool it down. For the starter, it is important to use warm water and not boiled, so you don't kill the bacteria on the bran.

The best wheat bran is the one you buy at the mill, so you know it's not treated in any way. People have reported that bran bought in health stores didn't provide good results, probably because the grains are treated to improve the shelf life.
Place the wheat bran in the jar, around 1/20 of the jar's volume.
Fill the jar with warm dechlorinated water. The water temperature should be between 106 and 118 ºF, (42 - 48 ºC).
Let it ferment for 2-3 days in a cool room at 60 ºF, (approx. 15 ºC).

If the juice doesn't smell after three days, the wild bacteria is dead, and it's not going to ferment anymore. Try another batch.
If the juice smells bad it is probably contaminated with other opportunistic bacteria. Try another batch. Note that a faint, slightly unpleasant smell is normal, and the smell reminds of the lactofermented pickles or B vitamins. But if it stinks, most probably the starter is contaminated.
The liquid is sour, and if you let it ferment for another 2 days or so, it will be even sourer. This is your borsh. This liquid could be used with great success against the hangover. Just drink it and you will be sober in minutes.

The bran at the bottom of the jar is your starter. The starter is called in Romanian uști, huști, or huște. Sometimes is called maia.
In order to preserve the huști, (starter), mix in equal quantities the starter, with wheat flour, and cornmeal. Form small patties and let the patties dry in a cold dry room. You can store the starter patties in the fridge, and the bacteria will slow down its activity. The patties will be active for around two months or even more. If you put them in the freezer, you can store them even for longer.
The starter patties will contain only the desired bacteria, and no other microorganism competition, so it's very hard to miss a batch of borș once you have the starter.

How To Make Borș If You Have the Starter
If you have the starter it is very simple to make a batch of the fermented bran juice. Add 1lb of wheat bran, 1/2 lb cornmeal, and a cup of the starter. Put these ingredients in a 1.5-gallon mason jar (link is external). Fill the jar with dechlorinated water, (not distilled, which doesn't contain any minerals). Keep the jar in a cool, dry room, at 60 ºF. The bran will ferment in two days, or so. If you let it ferment an extra day it will be sourer. Don't let it ferment too long though, or it will spoil. Once the desired taste is obtained, strain and pour in bottles and keep it in the fridge.
A way to speed up the fermentation is to add the hot water over the bran and cornmeal and mix it up. After it cools down add the starter. Don't add the starter to the hot water, you will kill the cultures in the starter.

Myths and Facts about Borș Making
Many recipes call for adding sour cherry leaves, or lovage. However, this is not necessary, and it is only for flavoring. If you make your fermented juice for Bors ABC health reasons, then adding lovage will make it even more effective. Lovage contains an impressive amount of perception, an anti-inflammatory polyphenol. This combined with the probiotics in borș will make a powerful anti-inflammatory cocktail.
Some people think, (and even recommend this), that using a little baker's yeast for the starter, is OK. While using the baker's yeast can help you brew a sour juice, that can be used to fix soups, it is not the borș. The original borș contains a symbiotic mix of lactobacilli and some other wild bacteria. This is why borș is so good and so healthy.
Preparing a sour soup fixed with borș will kill all the probiotic bacteria in the fermented juice, because of the high temperature. However, there are still a lot of health benefits from eating it. A lot of bioavailable nutrients and vitamins are present in the boiled fermented juice. These are not destroyed by the high temperatures. Even with all the probiotic organisms dead, there is some benefit when ingested, because our body gets an immunity boost from the dead bacteria.
Bors made by different people will always taste differently. You can't get two people to make the same tasting bors. This happens because of the wild bacteria cultures which will vary depending on temperature, water, even location. However, if prepared with the same starter, it will taste very similar.
In Romania, for large brewing quantities, oak barrels are used.
Although borș is commercially available in supermarkets, it is very likely pasteurized, which kills all the probiotics in the fermented juice. The healthy source is the small producer, in the produce markets. The commercially available souring powders do not contain real borsh, they are based on citric acid and not on fermentation-based lactic acid.

We, Romanians, enjoy the benefits of a unique gastronomically blend: we have taken over the vegetable soups and added further influences to them: meatballs from the Turks, lettuce from the Austrians, dry beans with smoked meat from the Germans ( via Polish mediation)

We added pork meat to our sour soups during the Turkish reign, because they had taken away our cattle as a tribute to them, and then, during the Austrian rule in Transylvania, we added tarragon ( this is a german cooking habit)

We prepared lamb borsch locally, as we used to be shepherds. Lentil soup is an Arabian import ( in fact lentils proper)that came to us also through the Turks.

The other notes and shades - oil, vinegar, sour cream, borscht itself, depend on regional gastronomy use and practice.

CIORBA DE PERISOARE (MEATBALLS TCHORBA)

INGREDIENTS:
400 gr, veal marrow bones
300 gr. minced beef
1-liter wheat borsch
2 tablespoons rice
1 carrot, coarsely grated
1 parsnip, coarsely grated
1 cup celery leaves, chopped
2 onions finely chopped1 bell paper chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1 big tomato, coarsely cut
1 cup fresh chopped lovage leaves1 cup fresh chopped dill
1 cup fresh chopped parsley
salt
pepper

Boil bones in salted water for about one hour together with celery leaves and one chopped onion, and then, remove the bones from the pot. Mix meat with remaining onion, rice, half of dill and parsley, salt, and pepper. Mold mixture into balls and introduce them into the boiling bone soup. Boil for about 30-40 minutes. When the meat is tender, add borsh and let them boil for another 1-2 minutes. Finally sprinkle with lovage, remaining dill, and parsley. Serve hot. You can also add sour cream when serving.

TIP: lovage is a must when using borsch. Never boil borsch for more than 1-2 minutes long boiling time will ruin it a special flavor.

Salata de vinete (Broiled Eggplant Salad)

I will present you today a new Romanian appetizer, very used in the summertime as a light meal, refreshing and tasty. We are like it so much that, in September when the eggplant is harvesting, we are preparing it but without salt and onion and freezing it. In December and January, we are using it to prepare fresh eggplant salad.

Broiled eggplant salad

Ingredients:

2kg round and mature eggplants.

2 small onions, finely chopped

150-200 ml oil

salt

How to cook it: broil the eggplants directly on the fire. Turn them on all sides. Put aside on a tray to cool and drain. Cut the base of the stalk, and then cut each eggplant lengthwise. Take of the pulp with the tablespoon and put it in a plastic strainer. When all the juice is well drained, put the eggplant pulp on a wooden board. Chop the pulp finely with a knife preferably a wooden one. Put the pulp in a bowl, add onion and salt.

Beat well with a fork or a mixer and add oil in small quantities until the eggplant salad becomes very creamy. Serve it well chilled on a platter or in tomato "shells" with fresh bread and fresh tomatoes. It is also delicious with broiled bell pepper salad.

Tip: this creamy salad is, in fact, a kind of dip. You can add egg yolk and/or sour cream, diminishing the quantity of oil. It goes wev v with a glass of tzuica or palinca. If you don`t have it is good any brandy of 53-56 degrees of alcohol.

Mucenici is a traditional Romanian dessert that is made only once a year on March 9th. Mucenici is made for the religious celebration of the 40 Martyrs of Sevastia. More about this religious celebration you can find in our article Romanian March Traditions 2.

For the recipe, the mucenici are shaped like an 8 number. The mucenici are shaped like big 8 numbers and are made from a dough similar to the Romanian panettone, sprinkled with honey and walnuts.

Preparation time: 3 hours

Makes: 12 servings

Dough Ingredients:

    1 pound bread flour
    3 eggs
    3 teaspoons dry yeast
    1 cup milk
    5 oz (150 g) butter
    5 oz (150 g) sugar

Decoration Ingredients:

    9 oz (250 g) grounded walnuts
    honey
    1 egg

Syrup Ingredients:

    1 cup water
    5 oz (150 g) sugar
    grated lemon peel
    rum extract
    vanilla extract

Syrup Preparation:

    Boil the water with sugar, vanilla, and rum extract. Simmer until it becomes thicker.
    Let it cool and add the grated lemon zest.

Preparation:

    Prepare the syrup as a first step before proceeding to prepare the dough, so you can have it ready when the mucenici are out of the oven.
    Prepare the dough

For preparing the dough you can either do it manually, or you can use a bread maker machine, that has the option to make the dough. Using a bread machine makes the recipe a breeze. Even if do not own a bread machine, you can still make great mucenici, but with a bit more work to prepare the dough. Our recipe is very straight forward to follow and guarantees great results! Just make sure you use quality bread flour, so the dough will rise properly. We give below both the classic recipe and the more modern bread making machine recipe.

 Mucenici - Classic Recipe

    For best results, all the ingredients must be kept at room temperature at least 3 hours before preparing the mucenici dough.
    Beat 3 eggs + 3 yolks with sugar, salt. Add lemon zest, rum, and vanilla. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
    Mix the dry yeast 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.
    Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Roll each portion into a small ball.
    Flour a table and roll every ball until becoming a string (thick as a finger). Make a circle and twist it into an eight-figure.
    Grease a baking tray with butter and flour the surface.
    Put the mucenici on the tray and let them rise at warm for about 20 minutes.
    Prepare a beaten egg with some milk and brush over the top of mucenici.
    Preheat the oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes at 350 F (until they become golden-brown).

Put the mucenici on a serving plate with higher borders and pour 2-3 tablespoons syrup on each of them. Spread honey on the top and sprinkle with finely chopped walnuts. Put enough syrup on the plate so the mucenici are soaked. Keep the plate cover to prevent them from drying

Mucenici - Bread Making Machine Recipe

     For making the dough using a bread machine, make sure that you verify the machine's capacity, and adjust the quantities accordingly. For my machine, I make 1 pound flour recipe. The way to verify is to match the quantity of flour in our recipe with the quantity of flour usually recommended in the bread recipes that come with the machine. The machines usually accept multiple sizes, mine has the Medium, Large, and Extra Large options. As the Large option corresponds to about 1 pound of flour in their recommended bread recipe, use this recipe and set your machine for the Large option.
    Add all the ingredients, except the dry yeast into the bread machine.
    The dry yeast should be added to the yeast dispenser.
    Select the "dough" option.
    Start the machine.
    When the machine beeps, your dough is ready.
    Remove the dough from the machine and divide into 12 equal portions. Roll each portion into a small ball.
    Flour a table and roll every ball until becoming a string (thick as a finger)). Make a circle and twist it into an eight-figure.
    Grease a baking tray with butter and flour the surface.
    Put the mucenici on the tray and let them rise at warm for about 20 minutes.
    Prepare a beaten egg with some milk and brush over the top of mucenici.
    Preheat the oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes at 350 F (until they become golden-brown).
    Put the mucenici on a serving plate with higher borders and pour 2-3 tablespoons syrup on each of them. Spread honey on the top and sprinkle with finely chopped walnuts. Put enough syrup on the plate so the mucenici are soaked. Keep the plate cover to prevent them from drying.