ROMANIAN RECEIPES

Romania:

Families living in the rural areas prepare in their own households local traditional food, as their ancestors used to do. Some of them are passing the knowledge to their young ones.

Romanian Traditional Cuisine

Sarmale = Stuffed cabbage rolls

Ingredients- Ingrediente• a large cabbage or 2 medium sized ones - o varza mare sau 2 verze de

marime mijlocie• 750g minced pork meat – carne de porc tocata• 1 slice of bread – 1 felie de paine• 2 onions – 2 cepe• 2 spoons of rice – 2 linguri de orez• 1 pack of sauerkraut – zeama de varza• 1 small cup of tomato sauce – suc de rosii• salt and pepper – sare si piper

Divide up the cabbage leaves and then steam them until they are tender. Saute

the small minced onion and when it become transparent add the rice and continue to fry everything for 1 or 2 minutes. Take the pan off the flame

cool it with 2 tablespoons of water. Mix the meat with the rice and onions and a slice of bread dipped in milk; season it with salt and pepper and sprinkle with

parsley.

Place a small amount of the above mixture on every cabbage leaf, roll them up and tuck in the edges. Put one layer of sauerkraut on the bottom of a pot and over it a layer of cabbage rolls; continue to do so until you finish up the

ingredients.

Pour the tomato sauce over it and add some smoked bacon. Pour about 2 cups of water in the pot and boil the cabbbage rolls with the

pot covered with a lid for at least one and a half hour.

“Mamaliga” = Porridgemade out of yellow maize flour

din malai de porumIngredients Ingrediente

Water -Apa Maize Flour -Malai

Salt- Sare

Traditionally, mămăliga is cooked by boiling water, salt and cornmeal in a special-shaped cast iron pot , called ceaun or tuci. When cooked peasant-style and used as a bread substitute, mămăliga is supposed to be much thicker than the regular Italian polenta to the point that it can be cut in slices, like bread. When cooked for other purposes, mămăliga can be much softer, sometimes almost to the consistency of

porridge .

Mămăligă is often served with sour cream and cheese on the side (mămăligă cu brânză şi smântână) or crushed in a bowl of

hot milk (mămăligă cu lapte).

The milk and meat products, are made in their own household, manually, without any preservation or chemical additives. The ingredients come from the animals that they raise.

Cheese in “skin”Special prepared salted cheese that goes through several steps before the final form (maturation). The cheese is kept in special recipient made of wood or in the skin coming from the stomach of animals.

The producers are making manually the recipients in which the cheese is kept and they sew the skin/wood, so the cheese is complete kept out of air. The ones that are kept in wood recipients, have a delicate scent of fir tree.

Meat products:

Caltabos: contains pork meat, livers and other organs, with onion and condiments, wrapped in natural membranes. Special food for Christmas meals.

Toba: contains pork meat (around the neck area), organs, rind (skin), condiments, wrapped in natural membranes. Special food for Christmas meals.

Pecie - Smoke pork chops – the meat is exposed to smoke from different wood tree for several day. Must be kept in dry spaces.

Smoked Bacon- from the back of the pig and its lateral parts

Fish soup with a lot of vegetable made on open fire

Fried fish with vegetables

Filled pike with small fish and vegetables

Cozonac (Romanian pronunciation: [kozonak]) is a traditional Romanian sweet bread. It is usually prepared for

Easter and mostly for every major holiday (Christmas, Easter, New Year, Pentecost) in Romania.

ROMANIAN TRADITIONAL SWEET BREAD - COZONAC

• Ingredients for 2 piecesBefore we start, all the ingredients must have the same temperature and all the windows must be close. The room (kitchen) must be warm because the cold air could damage the dough.Toate ingredientele trebuie sa aiba aceeasi temperatura si ferestrele trebuie sa fie inchise. Bucataria trebuie sa fie calda.

• 1 kg flour (faina)300 gr sugar(zahar)200-250 gr butter+ oil(unt+ ulei)5 yolks( galbenusuri)2 eggs( oua)1/2 teaspoon salt(lingurita de sare)400-500 ml milk(lapte)45 g fresh yeast(drojdie)a little grated lemon peel –coaja de la lamaie50 gr raisins- stafide

vanilla- esenta de vanilie

Mix de rest of milk ( warm) with the rest of the sugar ( to disolve it). Mix all de yolks (4 ) with the salt.

Take a larger bowl and place the flour, the warm milk ( with sugar), the egg white, the yolks (with salt) and dough starter (after it rises). And knead, adding the melted butter combined with oil, a little at a time, until the dough starts to easily come off your palms . Add butter and oil to the dough until air bubbles can be seen in it. Add the raisins ( after we keep it in Rhum or in warm milk) and knead again. Cover with a cloth. Leave in a warm place to double in bulk.

If during kneading the dough seems too hard, you may add a little milk. If, on the contrary, the dough seems too soft, you may

add a little flour.

Cover with a cloth. Leave in a warm

place to double in bulk.

When the dough has risen well, divide it in two parts. The first part divide it again in two. Make the same with the second.

After that fold the two rolls together into a rope (braid the two pieces together)

The baking pan ( it is similar with the plumcake baking pan ) should be previously greased with butter or covered with the baking paper. Fill only 1/3

or 1/2 of the pan with dough.

Cover and leave in a warm spot until it almost fill the whole pan.

When the sweet bread is ready, remove from the pan, place on a towel, cover with a blanket and let it cool off slowly in a warm

place.

We can fill it with cacao, chocolate, walnuts, turkish delight, in this case should be filled like a roll ( don‘t mix this into the

dough).

Other Traditional Desserts

•Pies with cheese and eggs. There different sorts of sheep cheese used for the pies (some of them are more dietetic with less fat, and other with a high concentration of fat. Sometimes raisins or added in the compositions.

•Donuts – made with yogurt and yeast, sometimes with salted cheese

•Pancakes – filled with different types of jam or with cheese and eggs composition.

Thank you!