Moldavian cuisine 500 ancient and modern recipes. Moldavian vertuta: homemade baking recipes

Moldova is a region of grapes, fruits and various vegetable crops, as well as poultry and sheep farming. Therefore, she uses all her wealth, offering guests aromatic, unique and satisfying dishes for every taste. Today, Moldovan national cuisine is increasingly attracting the attention of many culinary specialists, as it is rich in interesting dishes. Recipes for vegetable dishes and snacks are quite varied. Thus, traditional food is considered to be mititei (elongated cutlets), hominy, which is served with meat and cracklings. Of the soups, zama and chorba gained great popularity, and flour products became famous due to vertuta. And what are the Moldavian placintas worth? Of course, any treat becomes even tastier when served with a glass of the famous Moldavian wine.

A little history

Today we will look at some popular dishes all over the world that originated from Moldova. Before we do this, let's take a short excursion into history.

So, Moldavian cuisine was formed gradually. It is quite natural that it was influenced by neighboring countries with different cultures, because Moldova is located on one of the most ancient and busy trade routes.

Between the tenth and twelfth centuries, a large number of Greek dishes were incorporated into this cuisine. In addition, Moldovans mastered the technologies for preparing butter, puff pastry and puff pastry, which were practiced by Southern European and Mediterranean cooks at that time. There was also experience in using olive oil, dry wine and spices for preparing vegetable and meat dishes and sauces.

From Turkey, Moldova took a penchant for using lamb meat in cooking, and from the Slavic peoples - a love for pickles and fermentations.

Thus, Moldavian cuisine has formed into a coherent structure with pronounced characteristics, organically combining different, sometimes contradictory influences, and has managed to find the most successful combinations of products to create a bright, colorful picture of natural ingredients, which is so loved all over the world.

Let's take a closer look at what Moldavian cuisine is. The recipes with photos offered below will help us with this.

Chorba with pork

Ingredients: five hundred grams of pork and veal ribs, one leek, one carrot, one small head of cabbage, large parsley root, one spoon of tomato paste, one onion, two sweet peppers, one glass of green beans, two spoons of lard or lard , five potatoes, as well as two stalks of green onions, two glasses of Moldavian kvass, two tablespoons of parsley, dill to taste, salt, pepper, bay leaf.

Preparation

Moldovan dishes like this are very filling and tasty because they contain nutritious ingredients containing large amounts of vitamins and minerals.

So, the breast is washed, dried and cut into two pieces with a rib for one serving. Then they are fried in lard until golden brown, adding pre-chopped leeks at the end. Place all this in a saucepan, add hot water and bring to a boil. Then skim off the foam, add salt, add herbs and pepper and continue cooking until the meat is cooked. Then the brisket is removed and the broth is filtered.

Onions, carrots, parsley root, one sweet pepper are chopped into strips, sautéed in lard or lard, tomato paste is added at the end and fried for about another minute. Place two whole sweet peppers into the broth, bring it to a boil, add bean pods, diced potatoes, prepared vegetables and cook until tender.

Meanwhile, fry the chopped cabbage in vegetable oil until golden brown. It is added to the soup two minutes before it is ready. Separately, warm up the Moldavian kvass, filter it, add it to the broth along with salt, bay leaf, parsley and dill and boil for two minutes.

Moldovan dishes such as chorba are served in portioned plates, where two pieces of meat are first placed and sprinkled with herbs and fresh green onions. The dish comes out with some sourness.

Moldovan placintas

Ingredients: five hundred grams of milk, forty grams of fresh yeast (one pack of dry), one spoon of salt, one spoon of sugar, five eggs, fifty grams of margarine (two spoons of vegetable oil), one kilogram of flour, half a head of cabbage, four onions, and ground pepper, vegetable oil, five potatoes.

Preparation

Moldovan cuisine offers very interesting dishes. Placindas are direct confirmation of this. Local chefs recommend making this pastry as follows. First prepare the dough. To do this, crumble the yeast in a container, sprinkle it with sugar, add two tablespoons of warm water and leave until it is completely dissolved. In the meantime, beat the eggs with salt, add warm milk, and then the prepared yeast, mix everything well and begin to pour in the flour. While kneading the dough, add soft margarine and a few tablespoons of vegetable oil. The dough should be soft, cover it with a towel and leave to rise.

Preparing the filling

How to make Moldovan placintas next? You need to prepare the filling. To do this, chop the cabbage, cut the onion into cubes, mix everything, salt it and put it in a heated frying pan to simmer in vegetable oil. The eggs must be boiled, added to the prepared cabbage, first cut into strips, mixed and left for ten minutes. Peel the potatoes, grate them along with onions, add salt and spices, you can add cracklings.

Formation of "envelopes"

The dough is divided into small pieces, each one is rolled out with a rolling pin to form a circle. Place the filling (cabbage or potatoes) in the center of each and spread it over the entire crust. Then one edge is carefully pulled out and placed on the filling towards the center. Then take the edge from the other side and do the same. Similar manipulations are done with the remaining edges. The result should be an “envelope”.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, place the placinda top side down and fry, then turn it over and continue frying until golden brown.

Hominy

Ingredients: two glasses of corn flour, three glasses of water, salt to taste.

The finished dish is served with feta cheese, cracklings, sour cream or melted butter. It all depends on personal and taste preferences. When serving, hominy is placed on a dish with a spoon, which is moistened with cold water, poured with butter or sour cream, and sprinkled with goat cheese or cracklings.

How is mamaliga prepared? Moldavian cuisine knows two cooking recipes. Let's look at each one separately.

First way

The cornmeal is toasted in the oven for a few minutes until it becomes dry and crumbly, but not cooked. Hominy is cooked in a cauldron. Place salt and part of the flour into boiling water and mix thoroughly so that lumps do not form; cook for five minutes. Then add the rest of the flour in a heap, using a wooden spoon to circle it around the walls of the cauldron so that it does not touch them. The top is divided into four parts and cooked for twenty minutes under a closed lid. After the specified time has passed, the lid is removed, the contents of the cauldron are quickly kneaded, leveled and steamed over low heat for three minutes. After this, the hominy is removed and left to infuse for fifteen minutes.

Moldavian cuisine offers everyone to try its national dish. But before that, it must be laid out on a wooden board and covered with a linen towel for five minutes. Then the lump needs to be cut into pieces with a harsh thread.

Mamalyga is often served with chorba instead of bread. They eat it by dipping it in butter with cracklings or sour cream and feta cheese.

Second way

Add salt and four tablespoons of flour to a cauldron with boiling water, stir well, bring to a boil, add the rest of the flour, stir thoroughly and cook over low heat. Then the finished dish is collected with a spoon from the walls of the container into the middle, the surface is leveled, poured with oil and left to cook for another fifteen minutes. In this case, the dish turns out somewhat thinner.

Mititei

Moldavian cuisine, the recipes of which we are considering today, is rich in vegetable dishes, but meat dishes are also not uncommon. Mititei is prepared from beef on a grater (grill).

Ingredients: eight hundred grams of beef, thirty grams of bacon, one hundred grams of fatty pork, five cloves of garlic, half a spoon of soda, five spoons of water, salt, herbs, red and black pepper to taste.

Preparation

Moldavian cuisine is very original, and you can see this for yourself by preparing this delicious treat. So, how to cook mititei? For this dish, you need to take two thirds of first grade beef and one third with connective tissue, then it will turn out more fluffy. If the meat is lean, it is recommended to add bacon.

So, the beef is washed, freed from tendons and films, cut into small pieces, salted, mixed and placed in a bowl for three hours to marinate. After this, it should be put in the refrigerator for one day, after covering the container with a lid.

Fry on the grill

After a while, the beef is passed through a meat grinder along with the pork, a mixture of peppers, soda, and water are added, kneaded and beaten on the table. After all this is done, the minced meat is left in the refrigerator for four hours. Then sausages are formed from the resulting mass (using a meat grinder or manually). Place the mitites on a greased baking sheet, grease them with fat, place a second layer on top, and place everything in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, the hot grate is greased with lard, the pieces are placed on top and fried on both sides until golden brown. Green peas, fresh tomatoes, onions or green onions, and various pickles go well with the finished dish. The sauce is served separately.

It should be noted that if there is no grater, then the sausages can be fried in a frying pan or baked in the oven. On the grill the dish turns out a little dry, on the frying pan it turns out juicy.

Finally

Dishes of Moldavian cuisine (the recipes presented in the article are only a small fraction of the entire culinary diversity of this sunny country) are distinguished by their excellent taste. In the past, they were considered simple and therefore not worthy of attention. And completely in vain. Simple does not mean dull and banal. Today, Moldavian cuisine is popular; its dishes are valued not so much because of the wide variety of recipes (this hardly surprises anyone), but because of the successful combinations of various products and flavors.

How should you prepare Moldovan vertuta? The recipe for this unusual dish with various fillings will be presented below.

general information

What is vertuta moldaviana? Almost every Moldovan knows the recipe for this dish.

According to experts, a vertuta is a roll made from, which is very common in the world. To prepare this product, the same base is used as for the placinda. However, eggs and a large amount of sunflower oil are additionally added to it.

Moldavian vertuta, the recipe for which will be discussed below, is made from dough that is rolled out and then stretched by hand to the thickness of ordinary paper. Next, it is covered with a small layer of filling, after which it is tightly twisted into a tight roll, which is subsequently rolled into a spiral.

Moldavian vertuta: homemade baking recipes

To prepare the dish in question, you must use the following components:

• wheat flour - about 3 cups;
• drinking water - approximately 1 glass;
• fresh chicken eggs - 2 pcs.;
• butter - no more than 50 g;
• vegetable oil - about 0.5 cups.

All of the ingredients listed are necessary for kneading the dough. As for the filling, to prepare it you should use:

• village cottage cheese - approximately 500 g;
• table salt - 5 g;
• fresh small eggs - 2 pcs.;
• fresh green onions - a small bunch;
• aromatic dill - a small bunch;
• not very thick sour cream - 10 g;
• egg yolks - 2 pcs. (for lubrication).

Knead the dough

How should you make Moldovan vertuts? The recipe for such products requires careful kneading of the dough. To do this, sift wheat flour into a bowl, then add eggs to it and stir with a wooden spoon. Also, separately pour vegetable oil into a glass of warm water and add salt. The resulting mixture is added to the flour, after which the products are intensively mixed until an elastic dough is formed. Cover the base with a napkin and leave it to rest for 30 minutes.

Preparing the filling

The prepared layer is rolled into a tight roll and carefully twisted into a rope. After rolling the sausage into a snail shape, place it in the middle of the dish.

Exactly the same semi-finished products are made from the remaining layers of dough, which are also placed in the mold. At the very end, the previously prepared egg yolks are mixed with 2 large spoons of water, after which the Vertutas are generously greased with them.

Baking in the oven

How are Moldovan vertuta baked? The recipe requires an oven preheated to 197 degrees. All products are sent into it and baked for 40 minutes (until lightly browned).

We present it to the table

The dish in question should be presented to the table immediately after heat treatment. Although some housewives prefer to eat vertuta cold. Sweet hot tea should also be served with Moldavian pastries.

Moldavian fruit vertuta: step-by-step recipe

Few people know, but the products of Moldovan cuisine in question can not only be fried in a frying pan. We will describe below exactly how such a process should be carried out.

So, to prepare vertuta you need to purchase:

• large egg - 1 pc.;
• wheat flour - 1.5 cups;
• vegetable oil - approximately 150 ml (20 ml for dough, and the rest for frying);
• drinking water - 0.5 cups;
• 9% apple cider vinegar - a few drops;
• fresh sweet and sour apples - 4 pcs.;
• light sugar - 40 g;
• table salt - a pinch;
• fresh butter - 30 g.

Making the dough

The recipe in question for the Moldovan vertuta pie requires compliance with all the described requirements. To prepare such a product, you should mix ordinary drinking water with natural vinegar, table salt and vegetable oil. Next, you need to sift the flour into a separate bowl, break the chicken egg and pour in the previously prepared mixture.

Mix the ingredients with your hands to obtain an elastic dough. Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Preparing the filling

To make the filling for vertuta, sweet and sour apples are peeled and grated on a large grater. To prevent them from turning black, sprinkle them with a small amount of lemon juice.

Formation process

Once the dough has rested, it is divided into 5 parts and rolled out very thinly using a regular rolling pin. Next, the surface of each layer is greased with soft butter. After that, they are covered with apple filling and sprinkled with sugar.

Having rolled the rolls as described in the previous recipe, the edges of the product are tightly sealed. After this, each roll is rolled up like a snail and lightly passed over it with a rolling pin. In this case, take into account the size of the frying pan on which the vertuts will subsequently be fried.

Frying Moldovan products on the stove

Frying vertuta in a frying pan is quite simple. To do this, heat the dishes over high heat and add vegetable oil. Having laid out the formed product, it is fried for two minutes at a time (over high heat).

After the vertuta turns golden brown, cover the pan with a lid. At the same time, the fire is reduced to a minimum. In this form, the products are cooked for about 5 minutes on each side.

Proper serving at the dinner table

You can eat Moldavian vertuta both as a snack and as a dessert. In both cases, such products should be served hot. This should be done with tea or other drinks.

In this article, we presented you with two of the simplest and most accessible ways to quickly and easily make Moldavian vertuts. However, it should be noted that there are other options for preparing this dish. For example, some housewives make it using cheese, including feta cheese, fried onions and even meat (minced meat). By the way, with this filling, vertuta turns out no less tasty and satisfying than with cottage cheese and apples.

Food in which Germans and Russians, Turks and Romanians, Ukrainians and Greeks will find something familiar - all this is about the Moldovan national cuisine. The history of the country has formed an international system of bright and satisfying dishes, colorful and aromatic. While studying the cuisines of the world, it would be simply a crime to bypass the Moldavian one. It’s worth returning to it every time you want something truly traditional, no matter where you live.

Differences in the national cuisine of Moldova

Moldavian national cuisine is very similar to the cuisines of neighboring countries, but at the same time it is different from all others. She has individual traits, which we will learn about today. Like the culture of other states, Moldavian culture was formed under the influence of history. It was its unexpected twists that ensured the modern habits and taste preferences of Moldovans. Before the formation of the Principality of Moldova in the 14th century, the lands of modern Moldova were inhabited by several ethnic groups. The emergence of national cuisine is attributed to the period of the principality, and the gastronomic preferences of the first settlers are not taken into account. With independence, the principality began to trade with neighboring countries, which did not bring much novelty to the cuisine.

The initial basis for national cuisine were those products that grew or were grown in a given territory. Although this is also a lot: the geographical location of the country is simply created for agriculture. The local climate allows you to successfully grow both root vegetables and herbs, as well as grains and fruits. Back in the Middle Ages, Moldavian housewives learned to combine vegetables in a variety of combinations, because there were a lot of these ingredients here. And today you will not learn anywhere to combine vegetables so perfectly as in Moldova.

The fertile lands attracted the attention of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. And the Turks had a rule to conquer whatever they liked. So Moldova fell under the rule of the Ottomans for 300 long years. During this period, the country's culture adopted some of the characteristics of its enslavers, including its cuisine. So the Moldovans learned from them the combined processing of dishes and the use of vegetable oils. They began to use it more and more often, which was previously preferred to poultry. And today you can find dishes that are the same for both cuisines, for example chorba or givech.

The close relationship with the Slavic peoples also left its mark on this culture. The greatest contribution of the ancient Russian peoples to Moldavian cuisine is considered to be the tradition of pickles and marinades. This technique of procuring food for future use was here even without the influence of the Russians and Ukrainians, but the latter made their own adjustments. For example, using a large amount of greens in salting, cabbage sourdough technique, etc. Thanks to the Turks, the Moldovans became more familiar with spices, and they knew how to mix different components themselves. Thus, various pickles and marinades in Moldavian cuisine acquired their own individual character.

Popular products and dishes

Here they equally often use vegetables, dairy products and meat; they love fish and sweets. In the cuisine of Moldova it is impossible to single out one traditional product; everything is used here. Vegetables can most often be found in dishes; they are used to prepare stews, stuffed, and fermented for the winter. Among sweet peppers, they prefer the native Gogoshar - a special resistant variety, similar to the Bulgarian one. In general, Moldovans really like stuffing vegetables, unlike the common stuffed peppers; here you can also try eggplant stuffed with minced meat. Moreover, such dishes are found more often in home kitchens than in restaurants.

Among the spices in Moldova, they prefer greens and paprika. Classic seasonings like these allow you to create something delicious at the same time. But a no frills dish. It is very popular; sauces are prepared on its basis and added to main courses for taste and aroma. The most popular garlic-based sauces are mujdey and skordola. The latter is especially good, prepared with nuts and herbs.

All types of meat are used in Moldova; a distinctive feature of the cuisine is a large number of lamb dishes. Unlike neighboring peoples, in Moldova they prefer young meat: lambs. This product has a delicate, slightly expressed aroma and taste.

A lot of national dishes are prepared from meat, such as:

1. Mititei - similar in appearance to small sausages, but prepared without lamb casing or with spices. They are fried over an open fire using charcoal, which gives the dish a subtle smoky flavor.
2. Moussaka is a casserole with meat and cow, the dish was adopted from the Greeks, where it is called the same.
3. Kostitsa is pork roasted over a fire, before cooking it is marinated in red wine and pepper. It is prepared in the traditional way on a grater (a special coarse grill).
4. Kyrnetsei are sausages very similar to mititei, but they are made from lean pork meat with spices.
5. Jelly is an ordinary jellied meat, with the obligatory addition of spices and garlic.
6. Pastrama is a dish common in Turkic cuisine, essentially an ordinary basturma.

Most meat dishes are eaten with mujdey and skordolja sauces. Beans and vegetable stews are also popular as side dishes here. Paprikash is the most popular of them, prepared with meat, pepper, onions and other vegetables. The best combination of vegetables is still obtained in the Moldavian manja. This is a paste made from eggplant or zucchini; vegetables are usually fried over a fire before cooking so that the dish gets that smoky flavor. Manja is also considered the most popular cold appetizer in Moldova; it is eaten fresh or prepared for the winter.

As for cold appetizers, you should definitely try the facaluite beans. This dish is borrowed from Jewish cuisine and is similar to hummus, but is made with beans. You can eat it as a substitute for mashed potatoes or spread it on as a snack. Also among the cold dishes, dried gogoshars (peppers) - makareshti, sweetish with a woody caramel aroma, deserve special attention. However, you can try such a simple and tasty dish almost only in Moldova.

The first courses of Moldovan national cuisine are a real kaleidoscope of ingredients. Soups and borscht turn out colorful and rich. They prepare both cold options for refreshment in the summer, and hot ones to warm up in the winter. The most popular of them:

1. Chorba is a hot soup based on bread kvass with a vegetable mix, resulting in a thick, rich dish with sourness.
2. Zama is also a kvass soup, but it is customary to cook it based on a bran drink; it also includes egg noodles and fewer vegetables, a lot of greens. Can be with fish or meat.
3. Syrbushka is a liquid hot soup made from whey and semolina or corn grits. As a rule, nothing else is put into the soup, except maybe greens.
4. Buryakitse - soup with dumplings and tomatoes.
5. Shurpa is a vegetable soup made from lamb or veal. A distinctive feature is the characteristic smell of meat in the dish.

Of course, in addition to unusual Moldavian dishes, you can also find the usual Ukrainian borscht, light broth or rassolnik. True, they mostly eat first courses with traditional sauces, most often muzhdey.

A separate branch in the national cuisine is occupied by various flour products. Vertutas made from stretched dough are very popular; they are often replaced with something easier to prepare -. The presence of baked goods in the house is considered an indicator of wealth, and at the same time a test of the hostess. The filling is an egg with herbs and meat. Bryndza is especially popular, and not only as a filling. This pickled cheese is also used here as a snack for sweets, as an addition to salads, and as a substitute for hard cheeses. Cheese cheese from sheep, cow or goat milk is produced on an industrial scale and simply at home.

When it comes to baked goods, we can’t help but mention placindas. They can be in the form of whole baked pies or resemble a large round pie. Traditionally, they were still fried in vegetable oil with feta cheese, although today the filling can be anything: cabbage, eggs, meat, pumpkin. Under the influence of Russian and Ukrainian cuisine, people here are addicted to Easter cakes, rolls and loaves. Although such delights of baking are prepared mainly only for the holidays.

On memorable days one cannot do without a sweet table. Desserts are mostly from Turkish cuisine, popular here: halva, sorbet, nut nougat, kitonoage (quince pastille), marshmallows. But there are also our own sweet “inventions”. These include peltya, which is jam or preserves made from the juice of berries and fruits. This way they get rid of small seeds and get a delicate consistency of sweetness, which is prepared for the winter. Another classic Moldavian dessert is gogosh, these are flat thin cookies made from egg dough; when baking, they are sprinkled with crushed cookies and placed in the middle.

Delicious recipes

When discussing national cuisine, one cannot help but consider individual Moldovan recipes. This way you can cook something unusual yourself, even from familiar products. Finding a recipe with photos and step-by-step preparation today is easier than ever.

Of all the flavors of this cuisine, we will choose only the most popular ones.

Hominy

Products for cooking:

• – 1.25 l;
• corn flour – 400 g;
• salt to taste.

Cooking steps:

1. Pour a measured amount of flour onto a baking sheet and place in the oven for a while to dry.
2. Sift the dried flour through a fine sieve. At this time, put a cauldron of water on the fire.
3. When the water boils, add salt and reduce heat. Slowly add flour, stirring the porridge constantly. Stir so that no lumps remain.
4. The porridge sticks to the walls very easily. You need to cook it constantly stirring, with breaks for 1-2 minutes. Cook the mamalyga in this way for half an hour, then turn the heat to low and leave for another 15 minutes. The porridge should thicken well.
5. After this, you need to moisten a wooden spoon in cold water and run it along the edges of the cauldron, this way the hominy will separate from the walls of the dish. Dump the contents onto the board and cut into pieces with thread.

They eat this dish with their hands, dipping it in melted butter and feta cheese. Oil can be replaced with fried (cracklings).

Buryakitse

To prepare you need:

• – 800 ml;
• water – 1 liter;
• - 2 pcs.;
• onions – 4 pcs.;
• root - 1 pc.;
• celery root – 1 pc.;
• dumplings – 500 g.

Vegetables are cut into large pieces, onions into four parts, carrots into large circles. Pour water and tomato juice over all prepared vegetables and put on fire. When everything boils, reduce the flame and add salt, cook under the lid until the vegetables are completely softened. After the vegetables have boiled sufficiently, you can add dumplings and cook everything until they are ready. Served with mujdey or sauce.

Sauces

The mentioned mujdei and skordola sauce are present in almost every dish in Moldavian cuisine. Traditional national sauces are the best option to try the cuisine of another country. After all, they can be applied to native dishes. For muzhdeya, you just need to grind the garlic and salt into a homogeneous mass, add a couple of tablespoons of meat broth and a little vinegar. This dressing can complement dishes of fried or baked vegetables, meat, and potatoes. In Moldova it is even added to fish.

Skordola is also a garlic sauce, but tastier due to walnuts. So, grind the garlic and nuts to a paste, add soaked bread crumb and vegetable oil to it. All ingredients should turn into a homogeneous mass, which is best done with a blender, but for those who want to achieve authenticity, you can grind it in a mortar. Wine vinegar or is added to the finished sauce. The sauce tastes better if it contains more nuts.

Drinks from Moldova

Non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks also form part of any national cuisine. As for non-alcoholic drinks, Moldova is no different from neighboring countries. Homemade berries and fruits are often prepared here; uzvar, a compote made from, is very popular. They are also cooked from the same compotes or jam. The productivity of this country allows you to come up with a lot of natural homemade drinks.

Borsh is considered an unusual Moldavian drink. This is boiled homemade kvass made from wheat bran and boiling water. The ingredients are infused for several days, filtered and drunk. In appearance, it is completely different from the usual one, as it has a milky color. It is also added to chorba or beetroot borscht.

Regarding alcoholic beverages, Moldova has earned itself fame almost throughout the world. Local is an integral attribute of both the entire culture and cuisine in particular. Making wine at home is also popular here, with the red variety occupying a large share. Although you can find here mono and sherry, and rose wine, and Cahors, and dozens of other varieties. Moldovans also prepare their own version of brandy – divin. National alcoholic drinks can brighten up your acquaintance with local cuisine; the main thing is not to overdo it with either alcohol or hominy.

As we have seen, the gastronomic traditions of Moldova consist of many branches. Anyone who wants to experiment with cuisines around the world should definitely pay attention to this one. After all, the traditions of several nations come together here, and therefore there will be a whole lot of amazing discoveries.