Traditional recipes from Romania

Home cooked pies 

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 kilo of flour

50 grams of yeast

1 egg

100 ml warm milk

1 spoonful of sugar

2 spoonfuls of cooking oil

A pinch of salt

Oil for frying the pies

DIRECTIONS

1. Dilute the yeast in the warm milk and add the sugar.

2. Place the flour in a large bowl and add the salt.

3. In the middle of the flour make a small hole and pour the yeast in it and leave it to raise.

4. Beat the egg in a bowl.

5. When it is raised, pour a little warm water and add the egg and the oil. And mix it well.

6. Batter the dough till it becomes average soft (not to hard).

7. If necessary, add some more warm water while battering the dough, to have the right consistency. Leave the dough to raise in the bowl for approx. 45-60 minutes, or until it doubles its volume.

8. On the working board sprinkle some flour and take a piece of dough at a time, approx. 1 spoonful of it.

9. Roll it till it is a thin sheet of dough.

10. Fill half of it with some cheese or other filling, and place the other half on top of it and seal it at the margins.

11. Then fry it in a pan with little oil.

12. Serve them hot or cold.

Fillings:

1. Stir-fry cabbage: Wash the fresh cabbage and grate it. Mix it with a little salt and leave it for a few minutes to soften. Then press it till it leaves its juice. Place it in a pan with some oil and stir-fry it until it becomes soft. Add some fresh ground black pepper and leave it a bit to cool down before filling the pies.

2. Stir-fry sauerkraut: Wash the sauerkraut and grate it or chop it very finely. Then press it till all the juice is out. Stir-fry it in a little oil. When soft, add some fresh-ground black pepper according to taste. Fill the pies with the mixture.

3. Curds or ewe-cheese with dill and spring onions: Mix the cheese with the finely chopped green onions and the chopped dill and add a little salt, according to taste. Fill the pies with the mixture.

4. Curds with sugar and vanilla: Mix the fresh cottage cheese with

sugar, according to your taste, add one egg, the zest of one lemon and somevanilla sugar or vanilla. Fill the pies with the mixture. Be careful to seal in the filling because the cheese may leave some juice while frying the pies.

5. Potato filling: Boil the potatoes in their peel. When ready, peel them and grate them on the grater with the small orifices. Mix them with a little oil, some salt and ground black pepper, according to taste. Fill the pies with the mixture.

Bon apetit!

Stuffed green peppers 

Ingredients

500 g minced meat (It can be pork, beef, chicken, or any other type of meat, according to taste, or a mixture of several types of meat)

200 g rice2 big onions

100 cooking oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of paprika

Salt, ground black pepper,

Fresh (or dry) dill, thyme and green parsley

Approx. 12 big green peppers or more if they are smaller

2 sliced tomatoes

For the sauce: Some tomato paste, 1 spoon of flour and 1 teaspoon of sugar

Directions

1. Put the minced meat in a large bowl.

2. Wash the rice and add it to the meat. Add a little water, so the rice can swell.

3. Chop the onions fine and fry them in a little oil.

4. Add the paprika and pour the mixture in the bowl over the meat.

5. Mix everything.

6. In another bowl beat the eggs with a fork and add the salt, pepper and add to the mixture.

7. Add a teaspoon of tomato paste to the mixture.

8. Chop some dill, thyme and green parsley and add to the mixture.

9. Taste to see if it needs any more spices.

10. Wash the peppers and take away the seeds.

11. Stuff the peppers with the mixture of meat.

12. Place them in a large and deep pot and pour some water to cover them.

13. Add a little salt.

14. Boil them till the rice inside is done.

15. When ready, prepare the sauce: in a bowl mix 1 spoon of flour, 1 teaspoon of sugar, the tomato sauce and a little cold water.

16. Make a paste of it and dilute it with some water.

17. Then pour it in the pot.

18. Boil it for a few minutes.

19. You can serve it hot, decorated with tomato slices and/or some fresh sour cream.

Bon apetit!

Informer: Daniela Buda, Brandusa Pop

Student: Paula Ianos

Excerpts from 'Ethno treasure hunt – Book of traditional recipes”, published by Velzys Gymnasium, Panevezys, Lithuania, coordinated by Rima Stongvilene, with the collaboration of Georgi Ivanov, Bulgaria, Domenica Crupi, Italy, Joanna Wilczynska, Poland, Daniela Buda, Romania, Ozgur Boyaci, Turkey, 2011.