Romanian Meatball Soup - Ciorba de Perisoare

Romanian Meatball Soup

This is a simple but delicious soup. As some of you know, my daughter, Jamie, married Virgil Vaduva, a Romanian who she met while he was attending college in Ohio. Her older brother, Brian, had been writing Virgil's younger sister, Anca, who was still in Romania. Well, they fell in love and Brian took a trip to meet her in person. They eventually got married and of course are living here in Ohio too. A few years later their parents and 2 younger sisters were able to get their visas so the whole family is here now. This was a real dream come true for the family, as it took many years for this to happen. The 2 couples have 6 kids between them and they are the most wonderful, sweet, grandchildren!

This soup recipe is one of their family favorites.

Ingredients

Serves- 4-5  I usually double this so we'll have leftovers.

1 lb ground pork (you can mix this with ground beef or ground chicken if you like, but I use all pork - not sausage)

1 egg

1 Tb oil for sautéing vegetables

1/2 cup carrots (chopped in very small pieces)

1/2 cup red or green sweet peppers (chopped in small pieces about 1/4")

1/2 cup onions (chopped in small pieces)

1/2 cup chopped celery (this was not in Anca's recipe, so I haven't used it, but celery is an ingredient in several Romanian soup recipes I found on Pinterest)

7 - 10 cans (15 oz) chicken broth or 12-15 cups water with chicken bullion added (or you may not need that much broth - I like a lot)

1 6oz can tomato sauce

1/2 - 2/3 cup dry rice
Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley (fresh or dried)

Chop veggies and place in large pot with hot oil that has been heated. Saute for about 5 minutes in oil. While veggies are cooking, mix ground meat with 1 egg and salt and pepper to taste. Roll into small meatballs, about ¾" in diameter. Set aside.
Note: or if you'd like you can roll the meat into meatballs as you are adding them to the broth. I believe this is what my daughter in law does.

Update (Feb 2021)

I was at Anca and Brian's house recently while Anca was making this soup. I noticed she was spooning up a little meat (1½ tsp) at a time and dropping it in the boiling liquid. I said "Oh, I thought you roll the meat into balls before dropping them in the broth", and she said "Oh no, I just drop it by spoonfuls into the pot, because it's much quicker that way." Now I know I will make this soup more often, because I hate rolling anything into balls, because it takes so long to do that.This is the exact same reason I don't make Buckeyes (an Ohio candy) any more than once a year. The recipe make a lot and it takes forever!

Add chicken broth (or water and bullion) to vegetables and bring to a boil. Add the tomato sauce. Then add the rice and the meatballs.

Let this all heat through and it's done! Don't cook it too long like I did or your rice will get mushy, but you still need to keep checking to see if the rice is done yet.
Add fresh or dried parsley at the end if you'd like.
Note: I usually double this recipe.
I did not have to add any additional salt and pepper because of the chicken broth, but you may need to do that, depending on how salty you like it. My Romanian friend,

Buy Vegeta on AMAZON here

Maria Vaduva, who's daughter and son married my son and daughter, gave me some kind of Romanian seasoning, called Vegeta, and I'm sorry but I don't know what there is her in the states to compare it to. I haven't always used this seasoning in the soup, so you don't have to have it.  I made it again today and didn't miss it at all, so don't worry about getting it.

Enjoy the soup! I'd love to hear what you think of this recipe!

Here's another version of this Romsnian soup I found on Pinterest.
http://www.cookingglory.com/recipes/meal-ideas/soups-stews/meatball-sour-soup/