My mom's Ciorba

This is my Romanian mom's recipe for Ciorba, a delicious, savory, and slightly sour pork soup.


2 liters water
add
1 piece of bone-in beef or pork
and
1 carrot
1 parsnip
1 onion
3 tomatoes
all diced
salt and pepper (or whole peppercorns)
bay leaf
boil until meat is done, strain.

For the meatballs:

2lbs ground pork
some water-soaked white bread
about 2 tbsp. dried rice
I egg, beaten
1 onion, chopped
salt, pepper

form meatballs, add to ciorba, let it cook

add lemon salt to taste (you can substitute a squeeze of lemon or lime if desired)
add 1 tsp tomato paste for color

enjoy!

BTW - My mom, brother and I all love to garnish our bowls of this soup with thin slices of fresh jalapeno.

No takers?? It's really good soup! I add some chopped garlic and carrot in the meatballs sometimes. I love soups with a hint of sourness and my mom made this for us all the time! And she learned from my grandma when they still lived in Romania.

This soup looks like something I'd really enjoy...I'm going to give it a shot next weekend.