AI-generated image
Ciorbă de urzici
Nettle soup
Ciorbă de urzici: Moldavian spring nettle soup soured with borș
Around Iași and in the Moldavian hills, the first young nettles of March and April arrive just as the long Easter fast begins, and a green, sour ciorbă de urzici is often the first fresh vegetable dish of the year. It is a vegan post dish: nettle tops, spring onions and a little rice simmered together, then soured with borș until the broth is bright and tangy, with a grassy, spinach-like depth. Wear gloves to pick and wash the nettles and use only the young tops, the first four to six leaves; older, flowering plants turn tough and gritty. The classic error is boiling the nettles for too long, which makes them grey and stringy. Chef's tip: add a handful of chopped lovage with the borș, as it gives the soup its unmistakably Moldavian flavour.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 14 oz young nettle topspicked and washed wearing gloves
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 onionfinely chopped
- 1 carrotgrated
- 1 bunch spring onionssliced
- 3 garlic clovessliced
- 1 ¾ oz short-grain ricerinsed
- 6 ¼ cups water
- 2 cups borș (fermented bran liquid)or juice of 1–2 lemons
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp lovagechopped
- 2 tbsp dillchopped
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Fresh ingredients (4)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Wearing gloves, pick over the 14 oz young nettle tops, discarding thick stalks, and wash them in two changes of cold water. Chop roughly on a board.
8 minStep 2: Heat the 2 tbsp sunflower oil in a large pan over a medium heat and soften the 1 onion, 1 carrot and 1 bunch spring onions for 5 minutes, until soft but not coloured.
5 minStep 3: Add the 6 ¼ cups water, 1 ¾ oz short-grain rice and 1 ½ tsp salt, bring to the boil and simmer for 12 minutes, until the rice is nearly tender.
12 minStep 4: Meanwhile bring the 2 cups borș (fermented bran liquid) to the boil in a separate small pan, skimming off any foam.
4 minStep 5: Add the nettles and 3 garlic cloves to the soup and simmer for 4–5 minutes, just until the leaves are wilted and dark green; they lose their sting once cooked.
5 minStep 6: Pour in the hot borș and simmer together for 2 minutes. Taste and add more salt or borș until the broth is pleasantly sour.
2 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 110 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 16 g
- Fat
- 5 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does ciorbă de urzici take?
- About 40 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of carrot?
- Parsnip or sweet potato, same weight.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Tiyula itumBlack beef soup
Tiyula itum, 'black soup', is the pride of the Tausug people of Sulu in the far south of the Philippines, cooked for weddings, Eid celebrations and when guests come home. Beef (it is a halal, pork-free dish) is simmered with ginger, lemongrass and turmeric, then darkened with pamapa itum, a paste of grated coconut toasted until almost black and pounded with spices. The broth looks dramatic but tastes smoky, earthy and gently peppery, with heat from chillies. Serve it with plain rice. Chef's tip: toast the coconut slowly, stirring all the time, until it is very dark brown but not ashy; burnt-to-ash coconut tastes bitter and ruins the soup.
Filipino
Ful nabitSprouted fava bean soup
Sprouted beans are ladled out with their cooking liquor in Cairo homes when the weather turns cold or someone is feeling run down, and Egyptians swear by the broth as a pick-me-up. The beans are soaked and left to sprout for a few days, then simmered with onion, garlic and cumin into a light, earthy soup that is sharpened at the table with plenty of lemon. You can eat the beans with a spoon or pop them from their skins. Allow 3 to 4 days for sprouting, although the hands-on work is only about 20 minutes. People with G6PD deficiency (favism) must not eat fava beans. Chef's tip: stop the sprouting when the shoots are about 1 cm long; longer sprouts taste grassy and bitter.
Egyptian
Miso soup
Miso soup (味噌汁) is drunk every day in homes all over Japan, at breakfast as well as dinner, beside a bowl of rice. The base is dashi; this vegan version uses kombu and dried shiitake instead of bonito, which gives it a deep, rounded flavour. Silken tofu and wakame seaweed are the classic fillings. It takes ten minutes; just remember not to boil the miso. Chef's tip: add the miso at the very end and never let it boil. Boiling kills the miso's fresh, fermented aroma; Japanese cooks say the soup should only 'smile', with the surface barely trembling.
Japanese