🇷🇴 Romania
Ciorbă de perișoareRomanian sour meatball soup
Romanian sour soup of small meatballs of ground meat (usually pork) and rice in a vegetable broth (carrot, celery root, parsley root, onion), soured with borș (fermented wheat bran), lemon or vinegar and served with sour cream and parsley.
Origin and history
Ciorbă is the Romanian category of brothy soups with a sour edge, from fermented wheat bran (borș), vinegar or lemon. Romanian recipe sites call ciorbă de perișoare, with small meatballs bound by rice, one of the most appreciated and most representative soups of the country. Many versions exist; the one using borș, lovage, dill and parsley is presented as the traditional form.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 50 min
Ingredients
- 700 g1.5 lb minced pork, ground twice, lean; beef or a pork and beef mix also used
- 2 onions, one finely chopped for the meatballs, one diced for the soup
- 120 g2/3 cup long-grain rice, raw, dry (not soaked), rinsed
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp plain flour, optional, helps bind the meatballs
- 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus more to serve
- 1 tsp salt, for the meatballs, plus more for the soup
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 parsley root (rădăcină de pătrunjel), diced; use parsnip if unavailable
- 100 g3.5 oz celery root (țelină), diced
- 1 potato, diced
- 2.5 l2 1/2 quarts water
- 500-750 ml2-3 cups borș (fermented wheat-bran liquid), or the juice of 1-2 lemons, to taste; see notes
- 1 small bunch fresh dill and lovage (leuștean), chopped
- to serve sour cream (smântână)
Method
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1. Soften the diced onion in the oil in a large pot for 5 minutes, add the carrots, parsley root and celery root and cook 5 more minutes.
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2. Pour in the water, bring to a boil, add the potato and 1 1/2 tsp salt, and simmer for 15 minutes.
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3. While the vegetables cook, mix the minced pork with the chopped onion, rice, egg, parsley, 1 tsp salt and the pepper, and knead for 2 minutes until sticky.
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4. With wet hands, roll the mixture into walnut-sized meatballs.
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5. Add the borș to the pot and bring back to a boil. Lower the meatballs in one by one.
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6. Simmer gently, not boiling hard, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the meatballs are firm and cooked through and the rice inside is tender.
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7. Taste and adjust salt and sourness. Turn off the heat, stir in the dill and lovage, cover and rest for 10 minutes.
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8. Serve in bowls with a spoon of sour cream and parsley.
Notes
- The souring agent is a cook's choice. The traditional form uses borș (fermented wheat bran, sold bottled in Romanian shops), added to the broth before the meatballs go in; lemon juice, citric acid or vinegar are alternatives, and one source adds them after the soup has cooled a little. Taste often: the soup should be clearly sour but not sharp.
- Some cooks also add a tomato and a green pepper to the broth. Pork is the usual meat, but Romanian recipes also use beef, chicken or turkey. Lean, twice-ground meat and dry rice help keep the meatballs from falling apart; others bind with flour or soaked bread.
- Simmer gently once the meatballs are in; hard boiling breaks them and toughens the pork.
- Lovage (leuștean) is the herb used in the traditional version; use celery leaves if you cannot find it. In some regions the soup is called borș de perișoare.
- The same ciorbă method gives ciorbă de fasole (see its own page). Keeps 3 days in the fridge; add the herbs fresh when reheating.
Adapted from e-retete.ro, Romanian meatball soup, bzi.ro, Rețeta tradițională de ciorbă de perișoare cu borș, and Milk Street, Romanian Meatball Soup (Ciorbă de Perișoare).
At the festivals
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