Week-end recipe from Romania: Radauti Soup (Ciorba Radauteana)

This is a recipe you will have a chance to try in the northern part of Romania, as it is traditionally from Suceava county. It's not hard to prepare and it doesn't even take a lot of time or skills – but make sure to use the quantities mentioned in the recipe and follow the tips and tricks below. You will need the following ingredients:

500 g of poultry (we recommend poultry without bones – it will be easier) 3 onions 3 carrots a pepper or red pepper a small celery 400-500 g of sour cream 2-3 lemons 2-3 pieces of garlic salt, pepper, laurel leaves

Put the poultry in cold water in a 4-5 liter pot – the water level should be just above the poultry, not more. Let it boil for a bit until you

manage to take out the scum (preferably with a skimmer). Then add two whole onions, the carrots, a half of the pepper and the celery also whole. (You can cut the celery into two or three smaller pieces actually). Add some salt and pepper and put some more hot water. You should boil the water separately – don't use cold water as it hardens the meat, nor hot water from the tap, it's not drinkable water. Let it boil at an average flame until the meat is almost boiled. Then take the meat out and cut it in small pieces. The whole, boiled vegetables also need to be taken out. You will only keep the carrots – cut then into small pieces too. Put the pot back to boil and add the meat and carrots in it. Then add the remaining raw onion, that you will cut in small pieces too, the same with the other (raw) half of the pepper. Let it boil for five or ten more minutes and add salt and pepper to your taste. Then pour the sour cream in and let it boil a bit more. Check to see if the onion pieces are boiled – if they are, add the lemon juice. You can use one, two or three lemons for this, depends on how sour you want the soup to be. After that let it boil just a bit more and that's it. At the end you can add some minced parsley. In a separate bowl mince the garlic and mix it with a bit of mineral water. You can add this mixture to each plate with soup. If you're planning to eat the entire quantity of soup in one day, you can add the garlic into the pot at the end. But it's preferable to keep it separately and each of your guests can choose whether to add garlic or not. In any case, if you add garlic to the entire soup, it will turn the soup blue overnight.

Romania Insider got this traditional recipe from passionate cook Alex Alexandriuc. If you want to get in touch with him (ask for tips and tricks or plan a bigger cooking project together), send an e-mail at editor@romania-insider.com mentioning his name in the subject line.