Radauti-Style Sour Cream Chicken Soup (Ciorba Radauteana)

How to prepare radauti-style sour cream chicken soup (ciorba radauteana)

1. Prepare the chicken stock according to this recipe, up to and including step 4. I made the stock using a whole chicken (yielding 5 l of stock) and divided it in two, using 2.5 l of stock and half of the chicken for this recipe.
2. Put the strained soup on low heat (the lowest setting - the soup must not boil anymore, we are just keeping it hot).
3. Remove the meat from half of the chicken, debone it and shred it into strips. Cut the hot pepper into rounds and remove the seeds. Check that the pepper is actually hot.
4. In a bowl, mix the sour cream with the flour, then dissolve it with hot soup - add about 5 ladles one by one and mix the composition well to prevent lumps.
   * we do this step so the sour cream does not curdle when added to the soup; the fattier the sour cream, the smaller the chances of curdling.
5. Slowly add the sour cream mixture to the soup, stirring frequently.
7. Add the meat strips and hot pepper to the soup.
8. Crush the garlic cloves with salt, then add a little soup over them to make a concentrated garlic paste. Pour the paste into the soup through a fine strainer (like a tea strainer) so no garlic bits end up in the soup. After mixing well, check if the soup has enough garlic for your taste - if needed, make another batch of garlic paste.
9. Add the vinegar if desired and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
10. Keep on low heat for another 10 minutes.
    * when the soup is ready, you can improve its appearance by frying a carrot in a little oil and then pouring the oil (without the carrot) into the soup. I did not do this now because I serve the soup with extra chili for spice, and it looks great in the bowls like that.

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