tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1126742138026584856.post3718588086169189526..comments2024-03-05T21:12:44.894+02:00Comments on Romanian Food For Foreigners: Chiftele de conopidaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1126742138026584856.post-29496603000855925652012-03-04T23:59:08.887+02:002012-03-04T23:59:08.887+02:00Anonymous: I'm not sure what a "pure"...Anonymous: I'm not sure what a "pure" Romanian is, but I suspect I am one, at least ethnically, and although my family is Greek Orthodox we don't fast. (So we also never cooked any of the Lent variations.) But since I'm in the diaspora, the Romanian foods we make more often tend to be the holiday foods, which are pretty meaty. And cookbooks and restaurants (in the diaspora) tend to focus on the meat. <br /><br />That said, most of my favourite Romanian foods, the ones that I'd want on the desert island, are extremely simple and very vegetarian. There are few things as delicious on this planet, in my opinion, as salata de vinete and salata de ardei copti, preferably on the same plate, with some cucumber and tomatoes and cheese. Maybe a few slices of salami for meat, but not necessary. I could eat this every day for the rest of my life and be happy.<br /><br />Although I would also kill for some hamsii cu mujdei...ihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14105686105741162480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1126742138026584856.post-92233420537899766692012-03-04T18:59:16.526+02:002012-03-04T18:59:16.526+02:00Greetings and thank you for your insightful commen...Greetings and thank you for your insightful comments.<br /><br />Part of my initial reasoning for starting this blog was to discover and record a more accurate record of this country's cuisine. Even though I've been here for approaching a decade, most of my exposure to Romanian food has been in restaurants or at friends' houses on special occasions, when the food has been rather hearty. Most tourists who visit the country probably leave with a similar impression as most restaurants/hotels have largely meat-based menus, plus a few salads.<br /><br />As a result Romania food doesn't have much of a reputation for being light. This is why I've started to put up more salads and vegetable dishes; to show there is more to this cuisine than mamaliga and mici!Romfoodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14455869864381263722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1126742138026584856.post-7070092213008447382012-03-04T18:43:22.654+02:002012-03-04T18:43:22.654+02:00Contrary to what is being written here, I can tell...Contrary to what is being written here, I can tell you that Romanian day to day food is not as "meaty" as you find it in cookbooks. In my family we would have meat at lunch 3 maximum 4 times a week, and some of the "meaty" dishes, would be a supa de cartofi cu carnati folowed by clatite cu branza/dulceata or ciorba de burta followed by papanasi cu smantana. Not much meat really. Moreover, out of those 3-4 days of meat, 1 would have to be fish. That kind of leaves you really with only the big Sunday roast and the Monday leftovers from Sunday. And myself and a lot of my older or even younger friends are pretty serious with the fasting periods of the Orthodox Calendar so....not much meat in Romanian cuisine, I guess. No wonder one can find a great variety of veggies only dishes or dishes that are versatile and tasty enough just to omit the meat in them and to have a nice fasting meal. For example, the rich Tongue with olives becomes in the fasting periods Leek with olives for the ones who are missing the taste. Or sarmale, normal ones or fasing ones filled with whatever your imagination let you choose: corn (crupe de porumb), mushrooms, sultanas, tofu, small shredded soy that immitates mince meat, or just plain rice with herbs. My potato soup with sausage in winter time, in fasting times just forget the sausage at the butcher, the salad sour soup - can be done without bacon rashers, just salad in oil and garlic.Basically, for almost every meat dish there is the fasting variant (well, I wouldn't substitute though the chicken schnitzels for the soy ones). As a pure Romanian, I must say that I think of our food more of having a strong vegetarian core to which you can add eggs, dairy products or meat if you have them or choose to add them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1126742138026584856.post-76477273598622165922012-02-27T22:23:11.815+02:002012-02-27T22:23:11.815+02:00Hopefully I'll be posting some more 'light...Hopefully I'll be posting some more 'light' dishes. I try to cook with what's in season (as much as possible) so as you know, there's a lot of root veg and pickle-based dishes at the moment (to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of pickled food). Once spring really gets under way, I'll be on the look out for some nice summer-day dishes.<br /><br />Do you have a URL to your blog?Romfoodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14455869864381263722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1126742138026584856.post-45754581040934840052012-02-27T22:05:08.753+02:002012-02-27T22:05:08.753+02:00Same here -- love meat, but not all the time. But ...Same here -- love meat, but not all the time. But I'm often not moved to cook Romanian (despite my blog!) because of the meatiness... and the arduousness of many dishes. I'm trying to seek out more of the easy, simple, summery foods that are what I love about Romanian cuisine. I don't mind a good sarma a few times a year, but it's not something I would dedicate days to...ihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14105686105741162480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1126742138026584856.post-55381051637798376542012-02-27T20:42:02.688+02:002012-02-27T20:42:02.688+02:00I know what you mean about the meat focus. I'm...I know what you mean about the meat focus. I'm a meat eater myself, but I do enjoy vegetarian food too, and sometimes it's just nice to have a lighter variation of something, which is why I'm trying to list a few vegetarian/vegan recipes.<br /><br />There are a lot of recipes for 'post' (lent) which would work for vegans. These chiftele includes eggs, so they're not vegan/post, but they would probably hold together ok with the eggs, maybe just with a little dash of oil or water.Romfoodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14455869864381263722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1126742138026584856.post-92070258145089683182012-02-27T17:27:30.780+02:002012-02-27T17:27:30.780+02:00This looks delicious, and I love cauliflower in al...This looks delicious, and I love cauliflower in all forms, so I will probably try it soon!<br /><br />Romanian food is so meat-focused that it's easy to forget there are lots of delicious vegetarian dishes too, often variations for lent. I've only ever had meat chiftele in my family, but was excited to find recipes for veggie versions in my Romanian cookbooks... they sound a bit like malai kofta!ihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14105686105741162480noreply@blogger.com