Romanian Vegetarian Sour Soup
Servings: 5 servings
Print RecipeMy version of the classical sour soup recipe that’s very popular in Romanian cuisine. This recipe was inspired by a soup that my mother used to cook me when I was a child.
Equipment
- Soup Pot (at least 3.5L)
- Small Bowl
- Soup Ladle
Ingredients
- 2 medium carrots (sliced)
- 1/3 small celery root (including leaves, peeled, cubed)
- 1 big cup frozen green peas (or 1 handful)
- 1 big cup frozen green beans (or 1 handful)
- 1 big cup frozen broccoli (or 1 handful)
- 1/2 garlic head (peeled)
- 7-8 cm leeks
- 1/2 red bell pepper (chopped big)
- 1 chili pepper (chopped)
- 3 tbsp Jasmine or Basmati rice (pre-boiled)
- 1 egg
- 1 lemon (juice only)
- dried parsley (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
- 1-2 tsp Himalayan salt
- water
Instructions
- Prior to making this soup, you’ll first have to boil the rice (only takes a few minutes). Once cooked, remove excess water and transfer in a bowl to cool down.
- For the soup .... In a large pot, add the following veggies: carrots, celery, green peas, green beans, broccoli, garlic, leeks, bell pepper and chili pepper.
- Add enough water to cover the ingredients and a bit more (some water will evaporate).
- Bring to a boil and keep it there until the veggies become tender.
- Lower the cooking temperature and add pre-cooked rice.
- In the meantime, in a medium bowl beat eggs using a fork. This won’t take you more than 30 seconds.
- Next, combine a bit of hot soup with those beaten eggs. Use a ladle to add a bit of hot soup on top of the beaten eggs. Gently mix to dissolve the eggs in the bowl of soup.
- Pour the creamed eggs over the simmering soup. Use a fork to mix fast at the surface of the soup until the eggs will dissolve into the soup, forming a specific eggy texture.
- Finish by adding freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt, dried parsley and black pepper.
- Simmer the soup for another minute or two, until it develops that perfect sour taste.
- Remove from heat and set aside to rest for a few minutes (and to cool down a bit).
- Your soup is now ready! Use a ladle to portion into a bowl and serve by its own or with your favorite extras.
Notes
This sour soup can be safely stored in the fridge for at least 3 days. The lemon juice will easily keep it fresh in all this time.
This recipe allows a lot of creativity when it comes to swapping ingredients. For instance, I used frozen veggies like broccoli, green peas and green beans. You can safe.y use cauliflower instead of broccoli, and even skip green peas or green beans all-together. You can even exchange the carrot for a sweet potato, and the soup will still turn out great.
When it comes to rice, you can either use Jasmine or Basmati. I like using Basmati rice most often, but the recipe is great either way.
In the Romanian tradition, the sour taste is traditionally obtained by using a special ingredient called “bors”. “Bors” is a liquid ingredient used in the Romanian and Moldovan cuisines to make traditional sour soups. It consists of wheat or barley bran, sometimes sugar beet, fermented in water - a slightly yellowish, sour liquid, which can also be drunk as such.