2 Dishes from One Pot - Romanian Dumplings Soup & Veggies Puree

It's winter time in Romania and we have daily bellow zero temperatures, a lot of snow, icy roads and dangerous icicles falling from the rooftops. Simply walking down the streets it's quite an adventure.

To give you a better idea about the current conditions in Bucharest, I'll repost this picture taken by @dragosroua a few days ago. I was right next to him when he took it, so I got to see them "live". :)

In such rough conditions I feel the need for comfort food more than in any other time of the year.

So today I've made (only for the 3rd time this month :) one of the simplest and tastiest Romanian soups that remind me of my grandma's delicious food: dumplings veggie soup, and out of the remaining veggies, a sweet, tasty puree.

Although nothing compares to my late grandma's food, I believe I inherited some of her amazing cooking talents. :)

Without further ado, let's get to the recipe.

Ingredients:

3 carrots
4 potatoes
2 small red onions
2 red peppers pimiento type
1 small celery or a slice of a big one
1 zucchini
1-2 laurel leaves
1 inch ginger root
parsley
2 eggs
semolina
salt, pepper, olive oil

These are the veggies I had in the fridge. Feel free to play with the quantities and the type of veggies you have at hand. I usually add some parsnip but I didn't have one so I replaced it with a zucchini. So don't take my list as mandatory, but rather as a suggestion.

Instructions

The soup

• First, prepare the paste for the dumplings. Mix the eggs with a bit of salt and pepper just like you'd prepare them for an omelette. Then add the semolina, one table spoon after another, mixing continuously with the fork until you obtain a paste that feels like a thick cream. Leave it alone so the semolina has time to absorb the moisture while you take care of the veggies.

• Fill 3/4 of a 5L pot with cold water and put it on medium heat on the stove. Cover it with a lid to speed up the process.

• Peel the potatoes, celery, onions and ginger, remove the seeds from the pimientos, cut the ends of the carrots and the zucchini, wash and cut all of them in big chunks. Add everything in the hot water pot except the zucchini. Add the laurel leaves, stir and put the lid back and set a timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes add also the zucchini. Leave to boil for 5-10 more minutes until all the veggies are tender.

• Put a colander on top of another pot. Carefully, so you don not burn yourself, pour the content of your pot in the colander to separate the veggies from the soup. Leave the veggies to cool off a bit in a bowl while you start forming the dumplings. Pour the soup back into your pot and put it back on medium heat.

• When the soup starts to boil again, turn the heat to a minimum. Add 1 tbsp of sea salt. Using the same tablespoon, wet it in the hot soup than fill it with the semolina paste. Put it in the hot soup and move it gently a few seconds until the dumpling slides off the spoon. Don't worry if some will disintegrate, it's OK. Most of them will turn into nice, yummy dumplings in the end.

• Once you finish adding all the dumplings in the soup pour half a coup of cold water on top of them. This is a secret tip from my mother, it helps obtaining fluffy dumplings.

• Put the lid back on and leave to boil for 20 to 30 minutes. The dumplings are ready when they double in volume and they are soft on the inside. You can check if they are ready using a fork. If you can easily push through they are ready. If you encounter resistance, then leave them a few more minutes.
  They should look like this now:
  

• Chop the fresh parsley. Taste for salt and add more if you want, add some ground black pepper, 1tbsp olive oil. Turn the heat off and sprinkle the parsley. Leave it to rest and cool off a few minutes. Then serve it and enjoy! :)

The puree

Using a hand blender puree the veggies until smooth. Add some salt and pepper to taste. That's it.

If you want you can keep a few veggies, chop them finely and add them back to the soup for a colourful joyful effect. That's what I did today.

I hope you'll try and enjoy the Romanian semolina dumplings soup and the veggie puree.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Bon appétit! :)

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I'm a psychologist, intuitive coach, blogger and vlogger. You can find me mainly on my blog at Being Raluca where I write about communication, relationships, listening and sexuality. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @raluca.

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