ROMANIAN LOCAL FOOD

Romania Cuisine is a blend of the influences of the various foreign races that had once inhabited its soil and even continues to do so till date like the Germans and the Hungarians who live in the western and and middle parts of Romania. With the Turks came baklava, meatballs and stuffed vine leaves rolls into Romania Cuisine. Musaka was introduced into the food habit by the Greeks. Placinta, a type of pie, is an ancient dish from the Dacian-Roman period. One can divide Romania cuisine based on regional differences. For example, the specialty of Transylvanian is its spices and sweetened sauces, that of the Moldavian dishes lie in their traditional use of sour creams, and the Oltenian cuisine's in its delightful soups and spicy dishes. Romania Cuisine also varies as par seasons, such as, plentitude of vegetables and fruits in summer and pork based recipes in winter.

Romanian Walnut Panetone (Cozonaci cu nuca) this dessert is traditional at Christmas Romanian Panetone dough: 2 lbs/1 kg flour, 10 oz/300 g sugar, 1 1/2 cups milk, 6 eggs, 2 oz/50 g yeast, 7 oz/200 g butter, 2 tablespoons oil, vanilla stick, salt, egg for washing the dough, grease for the pans. Make a starter from yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix until the consistency of sour cream, add 2-3 tablespoons tepid milk, a little flour and mix well; sprinkle some flour on top, cover and let sit in a warm place to rise. Boil the milk with the vanilla stick (cut in very small pieces) and leave it on the side of the range, covered, to keep warm. Mix the yolks with the sugar and salt, then slowly pour the tepid milk, stirring continuously. Place the risen starter in a large bowl and pour, stirring continuously, the yolk-milk mixture and some flour, a little at a time. Then add 3 whipped egg whites. When you finish this step, start kneading. Knead, adding melted butter combined with oil, a little at a time, until the dough starts to easily come off your palms. Cover with a cloth and then something thicker (like a blanket). Leave in a warm place to triple 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. Filling: 10 oz/300 g ground walnuts, 1 cup milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup rum, vanilla Melt the sugar in the warm milk with vanilla in a pot on the range. When the sugar is melted, add the walnuts and keep stirring. After a few minutes of boiling, and after the filling has thickened, remove from heat and add rum. When the filling is cold, roll a sheet of dough about one finger thick, uniformly spread the walnut filling on top and roll like a jelly roll. Grease a bread pan, place the roll inside, let rise for a while. Wash with egg and bake at medium heat. Take out of the pan as soon as it is done, place on a cloth and let cool.

Maramures Cabbage rolls ( Sarmale) 1 large soured cabbage, 1 3/4 lb/750 g ground meat (mixture of pork and beef is recommended), 2 large onions, 2 tablespoons rice, 2 tomatoes or 500 mL tomato sauce, salt, pepper, sweet paprika and sour cream (optional). Grind the meat with a raw onion. Place in a bowl and mix with rice, pepper, salt, paprika, and finely chopped onion. Mix everything well. Core the cabbage with a sharp thin knife. Carefully remove the cabbage leaves, one by one, so that they do not tear. Cut larger leaves in 2 or 3 and then place a little meat in each cabbage piece and roll in. The smaller the rolls are, the tastier they are. Place a layer of rolls in the pan (take a deep one), then cover with a layer of chopped (julienned) cabbage and the bay leafs, then a layer of thinly sliced tomatoes. Do this layering until all the rolls are made. The last layer must be tomato slices and add tomato sauce. Then place in the oven so that the liquid is reduced. Serve hot with sour cream.

Transylvania For the food named " caltabos " we use the pig' s large intestine, very good washed and cleaned witch we fill up with the same mixture as at the forcemeat rolls in cabbage or vine leaves, but we don' t press the meat too much. We put it to boil and in this time we sting them with a needle because the gut could split. For the preparation of the food named " toba" we use the next ingredients: the pig's tongue, ears, the liver, meat from the neck, lard, pepper, salt, a pig' s stomach and a sirloin. We boil them all, without the pig' s stomach. After they have boiled, we slice them, we put them in the stomach and sew the place where it is opened. After it has boiled we put it between two clean planks and put a weight on them. For the meat jelly [racitura] we use the head and the legs of the pig. After we wash and clean them well, we put them to boil in the water that is with 20 cm. over the meat. The pan must be uncovered. When the meat detaches itself from the bones, we mix the gravy with the garlic, we strain and put it in bowls. For the lamb haggis “drob”' preparation we use the lamb' s guts, eggs, green onion, parsley, dill, salt, pepper. We boil them, we put them in the meat mincing machine, we add the salt, the pepper, the eggs and we fry the composition in a pan where it is the lamb' s midriff which wrap the pan' s sides. For the filled green peppers ( ardei umpluti )we use the same filling as for the forcemeat rolls in cabbage or vine leaves. We wash and clean the peppers of tab and seeds and fill them with the meat mixture. We boil them in water with tomato juice and we eat them with cream. Our wines are full of personality and qualities. “Feteasca alb ă ”, “Riesling”, the Aligoté, Grey Pinot, “Galbena de Odobesti”, all of a yellow-golden color, with an enticing, delicate taste preserving the smell of mellow grapes, are exceptional wines, all time boast of the vineyards of Panciu, Odobesti, Cotesti or Jaristea.

Banat Ciorba cu perisoare: Ciorba" is the romanian name for an special easily sour soup. Subsequent you will find the recipe, of a variant of this traditional vegetable soup. Acidified is this soup, with the original romanian "bors". The prescription to produce an natural, original "bors", you will find likewise in this index. Preparation: Peel carrots, sellerie and parsley-roots. After that cut all into small cubes. Peel also the onion and chop it finerly. Cut the herb in fine strips. Prepare the soup: Put a little oil in a large pot and heat it up. Add the half of the chopped onion, mix it slowly and let it braise glassy. Add the rest of legumes and stir-fry some minutes. Then fill it up with 1,5 l water, add pepper and salt and let it boil over 20 minutes: In the meantime prepare the meatballs Prepare meatballs: Put the ground beef into a big dish. Add the egg and the second part of the chopped onion. Add even salt, pepper, rice and fine cutted parsley- sheets. Now mix and knead everything well. Form with wet hands little balls and put them careful into the easily cooking soup. Form step by step approx. 40 Meatballs. Now let the soup once more cook; cook just on medium heat, for about 20 minutes (not to destroy the meatballs). Alloy and taste the soup: Get a cup of sour cream with a egg yolk and mix it well. Stir it into the soup. Lemon juice, or better "bors" will finish the ciorba. Bors is the original form of natural acidifying source of a ciorba. Bors can be manufactured easily. Look for "bors" in this index. On the left; meatballs made with breadcrumb and parsley. On the right; meatballs produced with rice.

Food is the basis for everything, forming a common ground. By becoming mindful of what we eat we establish communication with our own bodies and with the environment around us.