Zeamă (Zeamă)
Overview
Zeamă is a clear, sour chicken soup and a Sunday favourite in Moldova. A farm chicken is simmered slowly so the broth stays clear and golden, then the meat is pulled from the bones. Onion, carrot, parsley root and sweet red pepper are cut small and cooked in the broth, and thin home-made egg noodles are added for the last few minutes. The sourness comes from borș, a liquid made by fermenting wheat bran, which is boiled separately and poured in at the end. Plenty of fresh lovage is stirred in off the heat. It is served very hot with sour cream and a hot chilli on the side.
History
Chicken soups soured with fermented bran borș are a long tradition in Moldova and in Romanian Moldavia, where borș was made at home in a jar and kept going for months. Zeamă is cooked in nearly every family, especially on Sundays and after weddings, when it is served as a restorative. In Chișinău it is on the menu of most restaurants serving national food.
Main ingredients
Chicken, egg noodles, borș (fermented bran), lovage, carrot, bell pepper. The soup is built on chicken broth and is usually served hot. Diet: contains meat; not usually gluten-free.
Explore: Chicken soups · Noodle soups
Recipe
Method
- 11.5 h
Simmer the chicken with the whole onion and peppercorns for 1.5 hours, skimming well.
- 2
Remove the chicken, take the meat off the bones and return it to the pot.
- 310 min 5 min
Add the vegetables and cook for 10 minutes, then add the noodles for 5 minutes.
- 4
Boil the borș separately and pour it in, tasting as you go.
- 5
Turn off the heat, stir in the lovage and herbs and serve with sour cream and chilli.
- ✓
Serve. About 2h 30m from start to bowl.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
