A tangy, aromatic soup filled with tender beef meatballs, root vegetables, and herbs, soured with fermented wheat bran liquid known as bors.
Ingredients
400g ground beef
1 egg
50g rice
1 onion, grated
2 carrots, diced
1 parsnip, diced
1 celery root, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
400ml bors (fermented wheat bran liquid)
2 tomatoes, chopped
Fresh lovage
Fresh parsley
Salt and black pepper
2 liters water
1 tbsp sunflower oil
Instructions
1Mix ground beef with egg, rice, half the grated onion, salt, and pepper. Form into walnut-sized meatballs.
2Bring water to a boil with remaining onion. Add carrots, parsnip, celery root, and bell pepper. Simmer ten minutes.
3Gently drop meatballs one by one into the simmering broth. Cook for fifteen minutes without stirring to keep them intact.
4Add chopped tomatoes and continue cooking for another ten minutes until meatballs are cooked through.
5Heat the bors separately until warm but not boiling, then add to the soup. This provides the signature sour tang.
6Add lovage and parsley, adjust seasoning. Let the soup rest five minutes off heat before serving. Serve with sour cream.
Did You Know?
The bors used in Moldovan soups is made by fermenting wheat bran with water for several days, and every household traditionally keeps a jar fermenting on the kitchen counter.