Radauti Sour Chicken Soup
Ciorba rădăuțeană is one of the youngest of the Romanian classics — it is said to have been invented in the 1970s by Cornelia Dumitrescu at a restaurant in Rădăuți as a gentler take on tripe soup. The idea was simple and inspired: the same velvety egg-and-sour-cream liaison, the same garlic sauce and fine acidity, but with tender chicken breast in place of tripe. The result is a soup that even children happily eat, since become the emblem of Bukovina and one of the most ordered soups in Romanian restaurants. The key is still the carefully tempered liaison, so the cream never splits.
Tripe soup, no tripe
The same creamy liaison, but with tender chicken
Finished with a liaison
Egg yolk and sour cream, never curdled
Born in Rădăuți
Invented in 1970s Bukovina
Ingredients 6 servings
- 500g boneless chicken breast and thigh
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 small piece of celeriac
- 3 egg yolks
- 250g full-fat sour cream
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3–4 tbsp white wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Fresh parsley, chopped
How to make it
- 1Simmer the chicken in 2.5 litres of salted water, skimming often, until tender, then lift it out and cut it into thin strips.
- 2In the same broth, cook the finely diced carrot, onion, pepper and celeriac until soft, then return the chicken to the pot.
- 3Beat the egg yolks with the sour cream in a bowl, then temper the mixture by gradually whisking in a few ladles of hot broth.
- 4Pour the liaison back into the pot, but do not let the soup boil again or it will curdle.
- 5Flavour with crushed garlic and sharpen with vinegar to taste, scatter over the parsley and serve with garlic sauce and hot peppers on the side.
Nutritional info
per serving (~350 g)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
