Meatball Soup / Ciorbă de Perişoare

Directions

1. Chop onions, grate carrots, celery root, and parsley roots. Cut pork into 2-3 centimeter cubes.
2. Fry onions in oil and add other roots. Add cubed pork and season with vegeta. Pour water over all and boil until meat is tender.
3. Meanwhile, mix ground meat with 2-3 eggs. Add flour, as well as salt and pepper to taste. Roll meat mixture into tablespoon sized balls.
4. Once the pork is tender, add meatballs to the soup. Simmer until the meatballs rise (this
means they are done).
5. To turn the soup sour, add vinegar.
6. In a separate bowl, mix 2 egg yolks with the sour cream until well blended. Remove the soup from the flame and add the egg/sour cream mixture. Do not boil the soup after this or it will curdle.
7. Season soup with fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper.

Notes: This popular soup comes with many variations. It is sometimes made with veal instead of pork, or the chopped meat may be omitted all together. It is uncommon to find this ‘creamy’ version in Hungarian areas. For more authentic Húsgómboc Leves omit the egg yolks and sour cream in step 6. It is not very traditional, but try adding other fresh or dried herbs to this soup for more flavor.