Hey there. I’m back again. This time with a classic Romanian recipe. It is nothing fancy, just a very hardy, simple country food.

This type of food can be done with or without meat, I made it this time using pork. It also works with some nice sausages, fresh or cured, it basically works with any kind of meat. If you want to keep it vegan, just leave out the meat in its preparation.

I promise you; it is just as delicious even without meat, but the last time I tried that, my wife came home and the first thing she asked was… “Why are the sausages missing from this food!?”. So, I learned my lesson.

What do we need? The following list will give you about 6-8 good portions of food, I tend to make it and we eat it over the course of 2 or three days.

– 500 g (1 lb) not too lean meat -cut into 1 inch cubes- (I used pork shoulder, but anything works) or just leave it out
– 1 kg (2 lb) potatoes -cut into 1 inch cubes- (I used “Krone” a type that stays somewhat firm when cooked)
– 500 g (1 lb) peas (fresh is better but canned will work)
– one onion -finely chopped- (about 150 g / 5 oz), I used here an onion and a shallot
– one carrot -grated- (about 70 g / 2.5 oz)
– one parsley root -grated- (about 70 g / 2.5 oz)
– a piece of celery root -grated- (about 70 g / 2.5 oz)
– 2 cloves of garlic – crushed-
– 70 g (2.5 oz) tomato paste + 350 ml (ab. 1 cup) tomato juice or 500 g (1 lb) fresh tomatoes – diced-
– 100 ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
– seasoning: salt, black pepper, cumin, savory (if needed can be left out or replaced with thyme)
– paprika or chilli paste if you like a little kick.

Cut the meat into small pieces, about 3 cm/1 inch cubes and season with some salt, black pepper and paprika powder (I find smoked paprika powder if you have it, or some chipotle powder work best). Leave the meat to rest with the seasonings for 15 min.

Now take some black pepper, cumin and savory (or thyme) and crush it into a fine powder.

Heat up some oil in a pot, and throw the seasoning powder in, let it sizzle for 15 seconds and then add the meat.

I do the browning of the meat in the pot where I will be cooking the food later, so as not to waste any of that goodness of the meat getting caramelized.

The meat doesn’t have to cook all the way through at this point, it just has to get a nice sear. When it has a nice golden-brown sear add the crushed garlic and cook for another minute.

Take the meat out and leave it aside. Leaving behind all the delicious dark brown parts in the pot.

Take the onion and dice it finely, then add it to the hot oil where you seared the meat. Caramelize the onion until it becomes golden-brown. In the meantime, grate the carrot, parsley root and celery.

When the onion is caramelized add the root vegetables and let them get a bit soft in the pan, at this point you may have to add some more oil, as they tend to soak up quite a bit of it.

When the root vegetables are soft you can go ahead and add the tomato paste and juice and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. You can go ahead and add a pinch of salt at this stage. If you want it a little spicy this is where to add a bit of chilli paste (I usually go with a Hungarian chilli paste, “Piros arany“ but any will probably work.)

Add the meat and let it cook until almost tender, this tends to take a while with pork or especially with beef.

– with sausages or chicken meat you don’t have to wait, you can just add the potatoes with the meat

– or if you skipped the meat altogether and are doing the vegan version, just go ahead and add the potatoes at this point.

While the meat is cooking peel the potatoes and dice them up into cubes about the same size as the meat, or however you want, the main thing is that they are all roughly the same size so they cook at the same time.

If you are doing the vegan version, don’t panic, you can’t overcook the root vegetables, so let them simmer away until you have your potatoes ready.

Add the potatoes in the pot and add some water, just enough to cover the potatoes., Give it a mix and let it cook for about 20 minutes. At this point the potatoes should be done, if not cook them until they are.

The peas normally only need a couple of minutes to cook. So go ahead and add them to the pot, add a bit more water if needed, it only has to barely cover the ingredients in the pot.

I sadly only had canned peas here to work with, and I am totally blaming that on corona, but it worked out ok. After adding the peas let it boil for 3 to 5 minutes and you’re done.

I like to enjoy this with a bit of salty feta cheese and a bit more chilli paste for an extra kick.

And don’t forget a nice cold glass of strong beer or red wine. Enjoy!