Romanian Meatball Soup (Ciorba de Perisoare)

4.67 from 86 votes

This Romanian Meatball Soup (Ciorba de Perisoare) is my mom's recipe for the most delicious meatball soup out there. Just saying.

Prep Time20

Cook Time45

Total Time1 5

Course: Dinner, Soup

Cuisine: Romanian

Keyword: ciorba de perisoare, romanian meatball soup

Servings:

Calories: 258kcal

In a bowl add all the meatball ingredients together and mix well. Shape into meatballs about 1 inch in diameter. You should get about 18 to 24 meatballs, depending on how big you make them. Place meatballs in fridge until ready to add to soup.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottom 5 qt pot to medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions soften and are translucent.
Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomato paste, then add the chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil then add the meatballs one at a time.
Cook for about 10 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through, they will rise to the top when they are done. Season with vegeta then add the lemon juice and lovage. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as necessary.
Very slowly pour in the egg in a steady stream. To make shreds, stir the egg rapidly in a clockwise direction for one minute. Cook for another minute then garnish with parsley.
Serve hot with a bit of sour cream.

Vegeta is a condiment of salt with flavor enhancers used a lot in soups. It's a condiment that's quite popular in Eastern Europe.
Lovage is a herb belonging to the parsley family, commonly used in Europe for flavoring foods. The leaves add an intense celery-like flavor to soups, stews or stocks. If you do not have it, simply omit it in the recipe.
Wait till they float. You must wait until the meatballs float to the top of the soup before you add the egg. This is how you know that they are fully cooked and done.
Slowly add the egg. Drizzle the egg into the soup while stirring. If you don’t you will just end up with blobs of cooked egg, which is still yummy but not what we are going for here.
Season before serving. Taste at the very end and then add salt only if needed. Soup reduces as it simmers, so adding salt too early can result in really salty soup.
In an airtight container this dish will keep for 3 - 4 days in the fridge, just be sure it is cooled before storing. You can also freeze this dish, just store it cooled in a shallow airtight container and it will keep for 4 - 6 months. Just allow it to thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating on the stove when ready to eat.