Romanian Meatball Soup is one of the most loved and requested recipes in my family and all of Transylvania. I will show you my version of this recipe, with lots of vegetables and sour cream, which will surely delight you too if you try it.
Table of Contents
Romanian meatball soup is a sour soup made with finely diced or grated root vegetables and soured with lemon juice, sauerkraut or other pickles juice or vinegar. These meatballs are cooked in this soup, made according to the same recipe as the stuffed cabbage filling, except that I will add an egg to bind the composition.
In the end, here in Transylvania, the meatball soup is thickened with a liaison made of egg yolk and cream to make it creamier.
Compared to the usual recipes for meatball soup, mine is a little different because I don’t put rice in these meatballs, so they are firmer even after a day or two.
Another difference would be adding some chicken bones, which I boil first and will give the soup an even better taste. This can be replaced by adding if you have chicken stock or soup at home instead of water when cooking the vegetables.
Ingredients
Let’s take the ingredients for this delicious soup one by one, and I will start with two pieces of chicken back that I will boil first. I will also need the following vegetables: four carrots, a parsley root, a quarter of a celery root, an onion and a red bell pepper.
For the meatballs, I need about 375 g of minced pork of 15% fat, an egg and one onion, and for the liaison, two egg yolks and two big spoons of soured cream (or double cream).
Of course, for seasoning, I also need sea salt, ground pepper, celery leaves, dried lovage (optional, if you have any), and half a lemon juice.
How to Make the Romanian Meatball Soup Recipe?
Preparing the Ingredients
I will prepare all the ingredients and start with the vegetables I like, and I will clean and cut the carrots, parsley root and celery, onion and pepper into small cubes. As I said, these vegetables can also be grated, as I did in the pork meatball and vegetable soup recipe; only then will the cooking time of the vegetables be shorter.
Make the Meatballs
I will also make the meatballs now because the longer they sit, the better because the flavours will penetrate even better. In a bowl, I put the minced pork, on top of which I add an egg, finely grate an onion and season with a teaspoon of sea salt, half a teaspoon of freshly ground pepper and a teaspoon of dried celery leaves.
Mix this composition by hand until you get a homogeneous paste, after which you will form balls the size of walnuts. It depends on everyone, how they like it and what size they should be, but if they are bigger, they need to be cooked a little longer.
Make the Chicken Soup
Put the chicken bones to boil in a soup pot in cold water to which you have added a spoonful of sea salt. Boil on low heat for about half an hour, and if you see foam on top, collect it with a spoon; this way, you will get a clear soup.
If you don’t have chicken bones, you can skip this step by adding chicken stock, soup, or water and go to the next step.
After half an hour of boiling, I have already obtained a chicken soup, and I add the meatballs one by one to the soup.
Because once added, the meatballs lowered the temperature of the soup; I waited until it started to boil again and added the finely chopped root vegetables, less the red bell pepper.
Because I made the meatballs not too big and cut the vegetables into cubes, they will need about the same cooking time, about twenty minutes, so I put them in the pot at once.
Season the meatball soup with another spoon of sea salt (I added one when I put the chicken bones to boil), half a teaspoon of ground pepper and a teaspoon each of dried lovage and celery leaves.
After ten minutes, add the chopped red bell pepper because it needs less cooking time than the root vegetables.
Make the Liaison
Make a liaison until the soup boils; mix two egg yolks with two large spoonfuls of cream until you get a homogeneous paste. The liaison will give the soup a unique colour and taste, making it creamier and especially tasty.
Finishing the Soup
Before adding the liaison, turn off the heat under the pot, and you must raise the temperature of the liaison to that of the soup. For this, you will mix two or three ladlefuls of meatball soup into the bowl, and only then will you pour everything back into the pot. With this method, you will avoid cheesing the cream in the soup.
In the end, you will add a bunch of fresh, chopped parsley and the juice of half a lemon (if you want, you can add more), which will sour the meatball soup and balance all the flavours.
In some regions of the country, especially in Moldova, soups are soured with “bors“, a product specific to this area obtained from the fermentation of wheat bran; that’s why these soups are called “bors” (pronounced “borsch”).
This was my recipe for Romanian meatball soup, the way I like to make it and which every time is a crazy success among the diners.
F.A.Q.
What is Ciorba?
In Romania, “ciorba” is a soup, usually sour, made with vegetables or vegetables and different kinds of meat. These soups are generally soured with lemon juice, pickle juice (especially sauerkraut), vinegar or borscht (but these are called “bors”).
What is borscht in Romania?
In Romania, “bors” is a liquid used to sour soups, obtained from the fermentation of wheat bran and is a very healthy product. That’s why sour soups with borscht are called “bors”.
Serving the Soup
This delicious Romanian meatball soup is served hot, with pickled or fresh hot peppers and fresh bread. Those who wish can add a teaspoon of sour cream or a few drops of lemon juice.
The Romanian meatball soup recipe is my recommendation for you today, but if you want to cook another delicious soup from my land, I recommend some from our blog:
- Hungarian Tomato Soup
- Tripe Soup Recipe
- Best Mushroom Soup Recipe
- Hungarian Green Bean Soup Recipe
- Best Fish Soup Recipe
- Best Cabbage Soup Recipe
- Sauerkraut Sausage Soup Recipe
- White Bean Soup With Smoked Ribs
- Smoked Sausage Potato Soup
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Romanian Meatball Soup
Equipment
- 1 Soup Pot
- 1 bowl
Ingredients
- 500 g chicken bones 2 pieces chicken backs
- 4 pieces carrots
- 1 piece parsley root
- ¼ pieces celery root
- 1 piece onion
- 1 piece red bell pepper
- 1.5 tbsp sea salt kosher
- ½ tsp ground pepper freshly ground
- 1 tsp celery leaves dried
- 1 tsp lovage leaves dried
- 1 bunch parsley chopped
Meatballs
- 375 g pork mince 15% fat
- 1 piece egg free range
- 1 piece onion grated
- 1 tsp sea salt kosher
- ½ tsp ground pepper freshly ground
Liaison
- 2 pieces egg yolks free range
- 2 tbsp sour cream or double cream
Instructions
- Put the chicken bones to boil in a soup pot in cold water to which you have added a spoonful of sea salt. Boil on low heat for about half an hour, and if you see foam on top, collect it with a spoon.
- Clean and cut the carrots, parsley roots, celery roots, onion and red bell pepper into small cubes.
- Mix the pork mince well with an egg and finely grated onion in a bowl, and season with sea salt, ground pepper and dried celery leaves. Form balls the size of walnuts.
- Add the meatballs one by one to the chicken soup. Wait until it starts to boil again, and add the finely chopped root vegetables, less the red bell pepper.
- Season with sea salt, ground pepper, dried lovage and celery leaves.
- After ten minutes, add the chopped red bell pepper.
- Mix two egg yolks with two large spoonfuls of cream in a bowl until you get a homogeneous paste.
- Turn off the heat, and you raise the temperature of the liaison to that of the soup, mixing three ladlefuls of soup into the bowl and then pouring everything back into the pot.
- Add a bunch of fresh, chopped parsley and the juice of half a lemon.
- Serve hot, with pickled or fresh chilli and fresh bread. You can add more sour cream or a few drops of lemon juice.