Ciorba de Perisoare Recipe – Romanian Meatball Soup

My grandma was the best chef ever. Even now, when I go to a restaurant and feel the smell of soup, it instantly reminds me of grammy’s meatballs soup. She made it with pork meat and onion, unlike me who I created my own, lighter recipe for ciorba de perisoare. It’s not as fatty and my little girl can eat it too. You could use whatever meat you want (chicken, pork, beef), it’s the same recipe and it’s the taste of my childhood.

Let’s see ciorba de perisoare recipe! First and foremost, we have to go to make market. We need the following ingredients:

– 2 carrots

– 1 parsnip root

– 1 parsley root

– 1 bunch of parsley leaves

– 1 small celery (optional and only if you like it)

– 1 onion (optional and only if you like it)

– 5 tablespoons of sunflower oil

– 1 kg fresh tomatoes or 1 kg tomato sauce/passata

– ½ kg boneless chicken breast

– 1 tablespoon of rice

– 1 egg

– Salt, pepper 

Let’s get to work! Unlike the traditional Romanian ciorba or Romanian chicken soup with dumplings, where we first put the meat to boil in water, the perisoare soup is made according to a different procedure:

Step 1: Clean and wash all the vegetables;

Step 2: Grate all the vegetables (without tomatoes);

Step 3: Put the pot with water on the stove. You can use any pot you have around the house, but it would be preferable to have a large saucepan with a lid , so the meatballs have more space to rise to the surface when they are ready. But let’s go back… heat the oil in the pan and then throw in all the grated vegetables;

Step 4: Stir continuously for a few minutes so that it does not burn. It is important that the vegetables develop their flavor. Put salt and pepper over the vegetables;

Step 5: Pour 3 l of cold water over the vegetables and let them boil for 30 minutes;

Step 6: If you use fresh tomatoes, chop them and put them in the soup to boil. If you use tomato sauce or passata, now is the time to put it in the soup. Let it boil for another 20 minutes;

Step 7: In the meantime, let’s start making perisoare. It’s nothing complicated, stay calm. I mince the chicken with the Nutribullet, but you can use any mixer that minces or prepares baby food, for example. If you don’t have one, cut the meat into cubes as fine as you can with a very sharp knife. 

Step 8: put the meat, rice, salt, pepper and well-beaten raw egg in a bowl. Mix well with a fork and then by hand;

Step 9: With wet hands, make the meatballs. Put some of the above mixture in your hands and make some mini meatballs (aka perisoare). After finishing everything, put them in the soup. When they rise to the surface, let them boil for another 20 minutes;

Step 10: Taste soup for salt, and add more if necessary. Chop the green parsley and add it to the soup. Let it come to a boil, then turn off the heat and put the lid on.

Enjoy or Pofta buna as we say in Romanian! Come on, it wasn’t complicated and you got a delicious traditional Romanian soup!