Cabbage Soup
Vegetables Romanian Soups and Stews
Cabbage soup... they say it's good for dieting. But not in this version, with smoked meat and sour cream Transylvanian-style. 😉
Ingredients
1 medium cabbage (around 1 kg)
200-300 g smoked meat (ham hock, neck, smoked ribs)
1 large carrot
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 large onion
1 cup tomato paste
1 heaping tablespoon flour
1 level tablespoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon pepper
300 g sour cream
salt
4 tablespoons oil
dill (to taste, I used about 6 sprigs)
How to prepare cabbage soup
- Put 3 L of water in a pot and bring to a boil with the smoked meat cut into cubes. Let it boil for about 15 minutes, then add the carrot cut into rounds. Continue boiling for another 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cut the cabbage into thin noodle-like strips and rub with a little salt to soften it a bit. Add the cabbage to the pot, along with the thyme and 1 teaspoon of salt. Continue cooking over medium heat until the cabbage is almost done, about 15-20 minutes.
- In a small pan, prepare the roux: sauté the finely chopped onion in hot oil. When softened, add the pepper and paprika, stir quickly, then add the flour and stir again until the flour absorbs the oil. Deglaze with tomato paste and stir until everything is smooth.
- Put the roux in a strainer, dip it into the cabbage soup, and stir the roux until it dissolves into the soup. Discard the onion that remains in the strainer.
- Let everything boil for about 5 minutes and then taste for salt. I added about 2 more teaspoons. Reduce the heat to low so the soup no longer boils.
- Dissolve the sour cream in a bowl with 5 ladles of hot soup (stir after each ladle added). Pour the sour cream into the pot slowly, stirring vigorously with the ladle at the same time. Sprinkle with finely chopped dill. Leave on the heat for another 10 minutes, still over low heat.
