MOLDOVA: ZEAMA CHICKEN NO0DLE SOUP WITH FRESH CORN BREAD AND SOUR SIDES

January 10, 2024

MOLDOVA: ZEAMA CHICKEN NO0DLE SOUP WITH FRESH CORN BREAD AND SOUR SIDES

Moldova is a small and charming landlocked country in Eastern Europe. Tucked between its neighbours Ukraine and Romania, Moldova is famous for being the country with the highest percentage of its land mass dedicated to vineyards in the World. With centuries of complex ‘ownership’ including being part of the Russian Empire, Moldova finally became an independent country in 1991.

This new nation is one of the poorest countries in Europe yet it is one of the richest in cuisine. With a warm moderate climate and rich black soils Moldova is a natural bread basket where grains, orchards, vegetables and dairy produce flourish. Moldovan cuisine is flavourful, rich, simple and honest paying tribute to centuries of farming and cooking the best ingredients the land can produce.

our

MOLDOVAN

Menu included

ZEAMA CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

served with sides of

Sour Cream, lemons and chopped hot chilli peppers

and

FRESH MOLDOVAN CORN BREAD

ZEAMA CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

with Sour Cream, lemons and chopped hot chilli peppers

This heart-warming soup takes about 4 hours to make but it is well worth the effort. The number of ingredients and steps in the method makes it appear to be a difficult dish to prepare but it is really so simple anyone can make it.

Ingredients for stock

· 1 whole chicken

· Skins from 4 cloves garlic (see soup ingredients)

· 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped

· 2 carrots, roughly chopped (no need to peel but do discard any green ends)

· 2 tomato roughly chopped

· 2 onions peeled and roughly chopped

· bottom and green tops of a leek, washed and roughly chopped (see soup ingredients)

· ½ tsp whole black pepper corns

· stalks from 6-8 stems fresh parsley

· stalks from 6-8 stems fresh oregano

· 3 stalks fresh rosemary

· 6-8 stalks fresh thyme

· 3 fresh bay leaves

TIP: this recipe uses a whole chicken which is cut into pieces and the bones of the skeleton ‘frame’ also used in the stock. If you don’t have the time or experience to cut a chicken up you can either get your butcher to do it for you or buy 1.5 kg of chicken pieces and a chicken frame at the supermarket.

Ingredients for soup

· 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed (save skin for stock)

· 2 celery sticks, chopped in small dice

· 2 carrots, peeled and chopped in small dice

· 2 potatoes, peeled and diced small

· 1 small leek washed and finely diced (bottom and greens removed and saved for stock)

· 1 large capsicum, deseeded and diced small

· 2 cups tomato passata

· 2 cups thin homemade fresh egg noodles – or replace with fresh tagliatelle or fettuccini

· 4 tbs Borș acru (fermented wheat bran juice)

· 1 tbs fresh chopped dill

· 1 tbs fresh chopped parsley

· 1 tbs fresh chopped oregano

· 1 tbs chopped tender celery leaves or fresh lovage

· Salt and ground white pepper to taste

TIP: if you can’t get Borș acru (fermented wheat bran juice) it can be replaced with liquid from a jar of sauerkraut, vinegar or lemon juice

Ingredients for sour sides

· 1 cup sour cream

· 2 -3 lemons cut in wedges

· a dish of chopped fresh hot chilli peppers

1. Begin by preparing the chicken stock

2. Wash and dry the chicken (including washing inside the body of the chicken) and cut it into pieces – thighs, legs and breast with the wing on

NOTE: If you have chosen to get your butcher to do this for you or purchased your chicken pieces and frame at the supermarket skip this step

3. Put the chicken pieces and frame in a large chop with all the other stock ingredients, cover with water and bring to the boil

4. Skim off any froth turn the heat back to simmer and let it cook uncovered for 45 mins regularly skimming off any froth that rises

5. After 45 mins remove the chicken pieces and set aside to cool

6. Keep simmering the pot with the chicken frame for a further hour, if the stock level gets too low top it up with some water boiled in the kettle

7. When the chicken pieces are cooled down shred the meat off the bones, put the chicken meat in fridge for later and add the bones back into the stock

8. After the further hour of simmering pour the stock and its ingredients through a large strong strainer into a clean large pot

9. Use a large wooden spoon to press the cooked bones and vegetables in the strainer gently to get the last bits of stock out of them then discard what’s left in the strainer (the bones and vegetables have done their job now)

10. From this point we begin to make the soup from the stock in the new pot

11. Add the passata to the stock along with salt to taste, the finely diced potatoes, leek, carrot celery and capsicum, the crushed garlic and the acru

12. Bring the pot to the boil then turn back the heat and let the soup simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 mins, skimming if necessary along the way and adding water as you go if needed

13. Now taste the soup and adjust the flavour with extra salt and ground white pepper if needed

14. Add the shredded chicken meat into the soup and bring back to the boil

15. Once the pot is boiling it is time to add in the egg noodles

16. gently stir the noodles into the boiling soup and simmer until they are cooked – they will only take a few minutes

17. Now stir in the chopped herbs (oregano, celery tips, parsley and dill)

18. Adjust the seasoning again then switch off the heat and let the soup rest for 10 minutes to cool down and let the final melding of the flavours occur before serving

19. The soup is finished by guests individually swirling sour cream and a generous squeeze of lemon juice into their own bowls of soup and sprinkling sliced chilli on top if so desired

FRESH MOLDOVAN CORN BREAD

Ingredients (to make 12 individual muffin size breads)

· ¼ cup sour cream

· 750gm unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus a bit for greasing the muffin pan

· 1 egg, lightly beaten

· 1 cup milk

· 1 cup finely ground yellow cornmeal - preferably stone-ground

· 3/8 cup all-purpose flour

· ½ teaspoon granulated sugar

· 1 teaspoons baking powder

· 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

· 200 gm grated traditional firm fetta cheese, finely crumbled

NOTE: Extra tips and tools needed:

· I used a regular 12 x muffin tin for this recipe. If you prefer to make a single loaf choose a small baking pan and make one corn bread.

· More guests coming? Just double the recipe and use a bigger dish or 2 x muffin tins to make 24 corn breads

· Worried about getting your corn bread muffins out of the tin without sticking? Let your corn bread muffins cool a little in the pan then use a small flat knife to ease them out – or you could also use silicone muffin ‘papers’ in the tin at the beginning to guarantee a stress-free release

Method:

1. Heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

2. In a large bowl whisk together the sour cream, melted butter, egg and milk

3. In another bowl sift together the dry ingredients – corn flour, all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda

4. Now whisk the sifted dry ingredients into the wet egg mix until smooth

5. Finally whisk the crumbled fetta cheese through the mix to make a batter

6. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and let the batter rest for 10 minutes

7. Whilst the batter is resting prepare the muffin tray or dish by coating it with melted butter

TIP: you can use the paper the butter was wrapped in to butter the tray

8. After the batter has rested use a jug to pour the batter into the greased muffin tins. The bread will rise so if you are using muffin tins, don’t over fill the tins. This is not relevant if cooking a whole loaf in one pan

9. Bake the bread/s on the middle rack of the oven until cooked and golden brown – about 30 minutes. If the bread is golden before its cooked turn the heat back to 180 for the last minutes of cooking

Another easy corn bread recipe you are going to want to try:

this delicious Moldovan corn bread recipe shares many similarities with the equally amazing Serbian ‘Golden Grits’ Cheesy Corn Bread recipe I posted on Q Zine in October 2020. Check that recipe out by clicking this link http://q-zine.blogspot.com/2020/10/serbia-uvec-one-pot-pork-with-golden.html

These are all Q-ZINE original recipes informed by multiple sources including:

https://eatlikemoldovans.com/where-is-moldova/

https://atuktuk.com/must-try-moldovan-food/

https://eatlikemoldovans.com/recipe-category/main-course-ok/

https://www.tasteatlas.com/most-popular-food-in-moldova

https://nomadparadise.com/zeama-chicken-noodle-soup/

https://www.peacecorps.gov/educators/resources/recipe-zeama/

https://www.bylena.com/recipe/385/Zeama-traditional-chicken-soup-from-Moldova/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy65ywoIVFw

https://www.slavicvegan.com/2020/05/06/vegan-zeama-traditional-moldovan-soup/

https://www.internationalcuisine.com/moldovan-cornbread/

https://recipes.oregonlive.com/recipes/cornbread-for-khrushchev-moldovan-cornbread-with-feta