Peasant-Style Sour Soup
Pork Vegetables Romanian Soups and Stews
Cluj is all white! For a few days it has been snowing gently, like sifting flour, but the snow has already settled a palm deep. It is fluffy and clean, perfect for snowball fights. Afterwards we warm up with this vitamin-rich peasant soup and maybe some mulled wine.
Ingredients
1 kg meat (pork)
1 large onion (about 100 g)
1 parsley root (about 100 g)
1 piece celery root (about 100 g)
2 carrots (about 200 g)
2 potatoes (about 300 g)
white cabbage (about 300 g)
cauliflower (about 200 g)
1 small bell pepper (about 50 g)
2 tomatoes (about 200 g)
150 g peas (canned)
200 ml tomato puree (or 1 tablespoon tomato paste dissolved in a little soup)
1 lemon
1/2 bunch fresh herbs (lovage, parsley, or tarragon)
3 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons oil
How to prepare peasant-style sour soup
- Cut the meat into cubes, leaving some cubes with fat. Put them in a pot and add 3.5 L of cold water. Cook over medium heat for about 1 hour, until the meat is cooked. It does not need to be tender yet, but should be edible at this point. Do not forget to skim the foam several times. Then wipe the edge of the pot with a damp towel.
- Meanwhile, cut the vegetables into small cubes (onion, carrots, parsley root, and celery). Saute them in hot oil until the onion softens.
* if you do not want fried foods, you can skip this step - it is more for the appearance of the soup - Add the sauteed vegetables to the pot with the meat plus 1 teaspoon of salt. Continue cooking for 10 minutes.
- Break the cauliflower into florets, cut the potatoes into cubes, the bell pepper into small cubes, and the cabbage into squares. Add them to the pot plus another 1 teaspoon of salt and cook for about 30 minutes, until the cauliflower and potatoes are cooked (but not mushy!).
- Add the tomatoes cut into cubes (you can peel them if you want; you can use canned tomatoes), the peas, and tomato puree. Cook everything for another 10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and taste the soup for salt (I added 1 more teaspoon). Then sour the soup with lemon juice (citric acid, liquid from pickled hot peppers, or bors) to taste. Start with the juice from 1/2 lemon and add more if you like it more sour.
- Add the finely chopped fresh herbs to the peasant soup. This time I only used parsley.
- Peasant soup is served plain, with sour cream, or with pickled hot peppers.
Cooking meat
Vegetables fried in oil
Cook the vegetables in the soup for 10 minutes
Cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes and bell pepper
Add to the soup and cook for another 30 minutes
Cook the tomatoes, peas and bouillon for another 10 minutes
Peasant-Style Sour Soup
