Christians in
\nRomania are in Lent, a 7-week period during which people traditionally east eat
\nonly plant-based dishes, with the exception of certain days when fish is also
\nallowed. Popular products at this time are pickled cabbage, prunes, rice,
\npotatoes and leafy greens such as garden patience, orache, nettles and leeks.
\nThey can all be used to make some delicious meals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
One very common
\nfasting dish is soup made with pickled cabbage. To make this soup you need the
\nfollowing ingredients: some 2 kg of pickled cabbage, two onions, 2 big carrots
\nand tomato paste. This dish is very easy to prepare, but it takes quite a long
\ntime to cook, a few hours, even, because the veins of the cabbage leaves need
\nto cook well. So, the first thing you need to do is rinse the pickled cabbage
\nleaves in cold water, slice them, not too finely, and put in a pan to boil on a
\nlow heat for 2 to 3 hours. After that, slice the onions and the carrots and add
\nto the pan. Optionally, you can also add some finely chopped parsley root, and
\nthen pour in the tomato juice and one or two spoonfuls of tomato paste. Leave
\nthe soup to cook for another hour and then serve when it has cooled down a bit.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Rice is another
\nLent staple. It can be used as a filling for vegetarian sarmale, a popular Romanian dish in which pickled cabbage leaves or
\npickled vine leaves are filled with minced meat. Rice is also very commonly
\nused during Lent in combination with other vegetables to make pilaf, a local version of risotto. To
\nmake pilaf, you need two cups of
\nrice, two or three onions, a carrot, one or two fresh tomatoes or a tin of cubed
\ntomatoes, some mushrooms, parsley and oil. Put some oil in a pan and add the
\nsliced onion. When the onion turns golden, add the chopped mushrooms, the
\nsliced carrot and a splash of water if necessary. Rinse the rice and add to the
\npan together with the cubed tomatoes and cook for about half an hour. When the
\ndish is cooked, add salt to taste and the chopped parsley. Poft\u0103 bun\u0103!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Plant-based dishes popular during Lent, the fasting period before Easter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":174747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45767],"tags":[42707,46024,116464],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-174746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-cooking-show","tag-cuisine","tag-plant-based","tag-romania-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n