transylvanian wild garlic soup

In spring we eat a lot of ciorba in Romania - sour soup made with fresh, young greens.

In early spring you can forage for wild garlic or, if you don’t have time, you can buy it from everywhere - farmer’s markets, supermarkets and even small grocery shops.

This ciorba is my mum’s recipe.

Enjoy!

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transylvanian wild garlic soup

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Ingredients

• 30g sunflower oil or any vegetable oil

• 300g wild garlic

• 2L vegetable broth (I mix 2L water with 4 tbsp Vegeta - see my homemade Vegeta recipe here)

• 10 garlic cloves, sliced

• 8 eggs

• 1 bunch of fresh dill, finely cut or 2 tbsp dry dill

• 6 tbsp white vinegar (in Romania vinegar is 9% alcohol)

• salt, according to your taste

Soup thickener:

• 2 egg yolks

• 200g creme fraiche or sour cream

• 1 ladle of hot, finished soup

To serve: romanian polenta with cheese

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Method

1. In a pot with hot oil sauté wild garlic leaves, then add broth.

2. When it starts boiling, add dry dill if you don’t have fresh, garlic and salt if needed. Give it a stir and add the eggs.

3. Continue stirring, slowly, to separate egg whites from egg yolks. Leave the soup to bubble a few times until egg yolks are cooked, then add vinegar.

4. Prepare your soup thickener - mix together all ingredients including a ladle of the hot soup.

5. Take the soup from the hob and add the thickener.

6. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before eating!

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Tips & cheats

• This soup can be made with other greens like spinach or nettle leaves.

• I like to eat the soup cold with a hot, cheesy polenta (see the recipe here) like in my childhood. Take a tbsp of hot polenta, dip it in the soup to cool, and savour it!