Romanians do not simply make soup; they make ciorbă, a whole family of soups soured with lemon, sauerkraut juice or borș, a lightly fermented liquid made from wheat bran. Ciorbă de perișoare is the one most likely to be found on a Sunday table: a clear broth full of carrot, celery root, pepper and tomato, with soft little meatballs of pork and rice bobbing in it, and lovage, the herb that makes it taste unmistakably Romanian, stirred in at the end.

Sourness may sound like an odd thing to want in a soup, until the first spoonful, when it turns out to be the point. The tang wakes everything up. Serve it in big bowls with sour cream and a hot pepper on the side, the Romanian way, and you will understand why a ciorbă counts as lunch and not merely a starter.

The meatballs

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 lb (570 g) ground pork
• 1/3 cup (65 g) short grain rice
• 1 small onion
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika

The sour broth

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) sunflower oil
• 1 large onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 parsnip
• 1 small wedge, about 4 oz (115 g) celeriac
• 1 red bell pepper
• 3 quarts (2.8 liters) water or light chicken stock
• 1 can (14 oz / 400 g) chopped tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cups (720 ml) borș
• 1 bunch, about 1 cup loosely packed fresh lovage

To serve

Ingredients

• 1 cup (240 g) full fat sour cream
• 6 fresh hot peppers
• 1 loaf crusty white or country bread

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