🇷🇴 Romania · Transylvanian recipes

Ciorbă de fasole cu ciolanRomanian bean soup

Name: Ciorbă de fasole cu ciolan (Romanian bean soup)
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Romania
Ingredients: 400 g (2 cups) dried white beans, soaked overnight and drained; see notes; 1 smoked ham hock (ciolan afumat), about 800 g (1.75 lb); 2.5 l (2 1/2 quarts) water, plus more as needed; 3 tbsp sunflower oil; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 2 carrots, cut in chunks; 1 parsley root, cut in chunks; parsnip may stand in; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 tbsp tomato paste; 1 tsp sweet paprika; 2 bay leaves; 3 tbsp wine or cider vinegar, to taste; 1 small bunch each fresh dill and parsley, chopped; to taste salt and black pepper

Romanian bean soup of dried white beans and a smoked ham hock with carrot, parsley root, onion, tomato paste and paprika, soured with vinegar (or enriched with sour cream) and served with bread.

Origin and history

Ciorbă de fasole cu ciolan afumat is presented in Romanian recipe sources as a traditional dish of Transylvania and the north-west of Romania, handed down in families. Ciorbă is the broad Romanian category of brothy soups with a sour edge, from borș, vinegar and other agents. It is served as a soup with bread or croutons.

Make it at home

Makes: 6 servings
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Hands-on: 40 min

Ingredients

Metric US

400 g2 cups dried white beans, soaked overnight and drained; see notes
1 smoked ham hock (ciolan afumat), about 800 g (1.75 lb)
2.5 l2 1/2 quarts water, plus more as needed
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, cut in chunks
1 parsley root, cut in chunks; parsnip may stand in
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sweet paprika
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp wine or cider vinegar, to taste
1 small bunch each fresh dill and parsley, chopped
to taste salt and black pepper

Method

1. Put the ham hock in a large pot with the water. Bring to a boil, skim the foam, then simmer on low for 1 1/2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, in a pan, fry the onion in the oil for 5 minutes, add the carrots and parsley root and fry 5 minutes more.
3. Add the drained beans and the fried vegetables to the pot, with more hot water if needed so everything is covered. Simmer for about 1 hour, until the beans are creamy and fully tender.
4. Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, garlic and bay leaves and simmer 15 minutes.
5. Lift out the hock, let it cool a little, pull the meat from the bone and skin, cut it small and return it to the pot.
6. Add the vinegar a spoonful at a time, tasting, then season with salt and pepper. Mash a few beans against the pot wall to thicken the broth if you like.
7. Stir in the dill and parsley and serve hot with croutons or bread.

Notes

Smoked hock is salty, so add salt only at the end. Raw hocks need longer cooking; if yours is cured and very smoky, soak it in water for an hour first.
Souring: the Romanian-language recipes use vinegar (2 to 3 tbsp, to taste); a family recipe from Transylvania instead stirs in sour cream (about 400 g), tempered with hot soup, after a roux of onion, flour and paprika. Milk Street names borș as the other classic souring agent.
Beans cook faster in hot water; do not add the vinegar before they are tender, as acid keeps beans hard.
This is the soup, not iahnie de fasole, the thick Romanian bean stew eaten as a main dish. Related soups elsewhere: Serbian pasulj, Greek fasolada, Hungarian Jókai bableves. One of the sources also adds a teaspoon of dried thyme.
Milk Street tops its version with quick-pickled onions and dill. Keeps 4 days; it is even better the next day.

Adapted from bzi.ro, Ciorbă de fasole cu ciolan afumat, rețeta ardelenească tradițională, e-retete.ro, Transylvanian bean soup with smoked ham hock, and Milk Street, Romanian Pork and Bean Soup.