Romanian Sour Meatball Soup
Ciorbă de perișoare is one of the cornerstones of Romanian home cooking, a sour meatball soup eaten across the country from Sunday lunch tables to roadside diners. Its name simply combines ciorbă, the Romanian word for any soured soup, with perișoare, small rice-bound meatballs that plump up as they poach in the vegetable broth. The souring agent, traditionally borș, a fermented wheat bran liquid, sets it apart from ordinary meatball soups found elsewhere in the region. The soup reflects the layered influences of Romanian cuisine, where Ottoman-era souring techniques met the fresh herbs and vegetables of the Carpathian countryside. Lovage, an herb rarely used outside Central and Eastern Europe, is considered essential, lending the broth an aroma that Romanians instantly recognize as home. Today most cooks substitute lemon juice or vinegar for the harder-to-find borș, but the balance of tender meatballs, soured broth, and fresh herbs remains unchanged.
A tangy, clear broth
Fermented bran liquid (borș) or lemon juice gives the broth its signature sour edge, balancing the richness of the meatballs.
Rice-bound meatballs
The meatballs are bound with raw rice rather than breadcrumbs, so they stay tender and slightly plump as they simmer.
Fresh lovage and dill
A generous handful of lovage and dill, stirred in at the very end, gives the soup its distinctly Romanian herbal aroma.
Finished with sour cream
A tempered mix of sour cream and egg yolk is stirred in off the heat, thickening the broth into a silky, comforting soup.
Ingredients 4 servings
- 400g ground beef and pork mix
- 80g raw white rice
- 1 egg
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 300ml fermented bran liquid (borș) or juice of 2 lemons
- 200ml sour cream
- A bunch of fresh lovage and dill, chopped
How to make it
- 1Mix the ground meat with the raw rice, the egg, grated onion, and a pinch of salt and pepper until well combined.
- 2Shape the mixture into small, walnut-sized meatballs and set them aside on a tray.
- 3Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the diced carrots, onion, and bell pepper.
- 4Simmer the vegetables for about ten minutes until they begin to soften.
- 5Drop the meatballs gently into the simmering broth and cook for twenty minutes, skimming off any foam that rises.
- 6Pour in the fermented bran liquid or lemon juice and let the soup simmer for another ten minutes so the sour flavor develops fully.
- 7Whisk the sour cream with an egg yolk and a ladle of hot broth, stir it back into the pot, then finish with the chopped lovage and dill before serving hot.
Nutritional info
per serving (~400 ml)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
