Romanian Ciorba De Perisoare (sour-pork meatball soup) by Kittyxoxo

This is a Romanian dish called Ciorba De Perisoare, which is like a sour soup with meatballs, and the soup may taste a little sour but that is how the soups are like.. we grew up eating it this way, maybe you and your kids can grow up with this healthy, chunky soup and if you don't like it that sour, you can alter your ingredients and hold back on the sours.
Ghetto Cookin is all about finding easy recipes to make, altering originals to make it your personal creation in order to just teach you the basics in cooking and making foods without the need for an exact recipe (or exact ingredients).

You’ll notice a couple ingredients in this soup that you might not be familiar with. One being “vegeta” which I’ve talked about before, It’s a condiment that’s very commonly used in Eastern Europe in soups and stews, or if you’re like my mom, you can put it on everything. You can pretty much find this in all grocery stores with all the other spices or just replace it with chicken bouillon.

Here is a recipe from Jo Cooks, similar to the one we made in the video, however, Maria and I cooked this based on her own version (not from this recipe) but it was very similar and therefore, you can follow this exact recipe to make your own soup!

click the link below for full page recipe:

https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/roman...

INGREDIENTS
**For Meatballs
1 lb ground pork or ground beef
1 egg
2 tbsp dill chopped
2 tbsp parsley chopped
1/4 cup rice long grain and uncooked
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper or to taste
***For Soup
2 tbsp Avocado oil
1 large onion chopped
2 large carrots chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper or to taste
4 cups chicken broth low sodium
4 cups water
1/2 tsp Vegeta or 1 chicken bouillon (upon taste)
3 tbsp lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
*2 tbsp lovage chopped (optionally: this is not commonly found, only if you have a garden.. so don't stress about it)
parsley for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS (from recipe)
In a bowl add all the meatball ingredients together and mix well. Shape into meatballs about 1 inch in diameter. You should get about 30 to 35 meatballs, depending on how big you make them. Place meatballs in fridge until ready to add to soup.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottom 5 qt pot to medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions soften and are translucent.
Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomato paste, then add the chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil then add the meatballs one at a time.
Cook for about 10 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through, they will rise to the top when they are done. Season with vegeta then add the lemon juice and lovage. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as necessary. Very slowly pour in the egg in a steady stream. To make shreds, stir the egg rapidly in a clockwise direction for one minute. Cook for another minute then garnish with parsley.

Serve hot with a bit of sour cream.

NOTES:
Vegeta is a condiment of salt with flavor enhancers used a lot in soups. It's a condiment that's quite popular in Eastern Europe.

Lovage is a herb belonging to the parsley family, commonly used in Europe for flavoring foods. The leaves add an intense celery-like flavor to soups, stews or stocks. If you do not have it, simply omit it in the recipe.

Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Course: ciorba de perisoare, romanian meatball soup
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 8 Calories: 258kcal
Author: Joanna Cismaru
Video: Kittyxoxo (Cristina)
Cooking with Maria ~Ghetto Cookin video :)

NUTRITION
Calories: 258kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 853mg | Potassium: 453mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 67.1% | Vitamin C: 20.6% | Calcium: 5.1% | Iron: 8.1%