Romanian Meatballs Soup

Anamaria C
cookwithanna.blogspot.com

I don't know if I ever told you but I am a Romanian native who moved to the UK a while ago. One of the hardest things that I struggled with most, was adjusting with the food here, and even now after almost 6 years I miss the traditional Romanian dishes. I always try to recreate some of the recipes I love, so here is one of them.

   INGREDIENTS:

   - 300 g beef/pork mince meat (it can be either or combine both)
   - 1 egg
   - 2 small onions
   - 1 carrot
   - 2 slices of white bread soaked in milk.
   - 5 tbsp of risotto rice
   - 1 medium potato
   - 1 tbsp tomato paste
   - 1 tbsp parsley or dill
 

In a big pan put the potatoes cut in medium sized cubes, grated carrot and one chopped onion. Cover with water and simmer until the vegetables are soft. You can add peppers, celeriac or green beans. While the vegetables are simmering away prepare the meatballs. In a spacious bowl put the mince meat, egg, the other chopped onion, slices of bread (squeeze the excess milk before) rice and a pinch of salt and pepper and mix until well combined.

Shape the meat balls making them the size of a walnut and when the vegetables are boiled add them in the boiling water leaving them to simmer away until the rice is soft.

When the meatballs are done add the tomato paste and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. A traditional Romanian soup will have an extra ingredient called borsh, you can find this in a powdered form in some of the polish shops who sell Romanian products here in the UK. This ingredient makes the soup a little bit sour but you can skip this if you like your soup sweeter. When taking the soup off the heat add the chopped parsley or the dill and serve hot.

ENJOY!!!