Romanian Sour Meatball Soup (Ciorba de perisoare)

This is probably my most favorite dish ever!  I could eat it every day, honestly.:)  Romanian soup is supposed to be sour (very sour for me).  Traditionally we use bors to sour it.  Romanian bors (borsh) is different than the Russian one, which is made out of beets.  The Romanian type is actually fermented wheat bran.  The modern version of it comes now as a powder, which I've been very fortunate to get from my family.  If you don't have bors, don't worry.  The soup can be made sour by adding lemon juice or sauerkraut juice.  It is worth the try, trust me!  I also like that I can use my food storage, i.e. my dehydrated onions and peppers.  It also saves a lot of time that would otherwise be spent chopping all the veggies.  Anyway, enough said.  Enjoy it!
 Ingredients:
For the soup:
-10-12 cups of water
-1 carrot, peeled and finely grated
-3-4 small potatoes, peeled and diced
-1 onion, finely chopped or a handful of dehydrated onion
-1 bell pepper, chopped or a handful of dehydrated peppers
-1 Tbs tomato paste
-bors (or lemon or sauerkraut juice), at least 1 cup, depending how sour you want your soup
-salt

 For the meatballs:
-1 lbs ground pork
-1 slice bread
-2 Tbs rice, washed and drained
-1/2 onion, finely chopped or 1 Tbs dehydrated onion
-1 egg
-salt
-pepper
Directions:
Place water in a large sauce pan.  Add the carrot, potatoes, pepper and onion.  Boil for about 15 minutes.  Add tomato paste, salt and bors, as desired.  I like mine very sour so I add a lot of bors. 
Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs.  Soften bread in some water, then drain it very well, until no more liquid comes out.  In a large bowl add ground pork, drained bread, rice, egg, onion, salt and pepper.  Mix well with your hands.  Form meatballs and add in the simmering soup.  Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for at least 30 minutes or until rice is cooked.  Enjoy!

Comments

E.T. said…
Can I buy the good bors here in the states at a grocery chain? Love the blog and the Romanian recipes.
Ioana said…
No, sadly you can only buy it in Romania.
Vali said…
Hi Ioana, Happy Thanksgiving! I am making ciorba de perisoare si ma uit la reteta ta, asa ca multumesc pentru ea ca nu-mi mai aduceam aminte cum se face mincarea asta. Ai reteta de mici si de sarmale, te rog frumos sa le pui pe blog cand ai timp :)

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