by Mar on
This is a Romanian delish, a traditional chicken soup with sour cream and garlic (ciorba radauteana) which is absolutely fabulous.
If you haven’t taste it yet, you should! It’s tangy and delicate and soooo damn good that I could eat it every week.
Just look at the picture below and tell me you don’t wanna taste it right now. Can you?…
This soup is a really pick-me up recipe and also very nutritious.
High in calories, but hey!… once in a while we can indulge in such tasteful moments. It’s also a little time consuming but totally worth it.
It is made with sour cream, garlic and egg yolks and gets its tangy flavor from vinegar.
Let’s look into what we need for this chicken soup:
🍲 Ingredients
This soup can be made with any part of the chicken you have in the fridge, but I like to use thighs and some chicken breast for different textures.
I also use high fat sour cream that you can replace with low fat, but it doesn’t quite taste the same.
The richness and the silky texture of this soup is given by the high percentage of fat in the sour cream.
It is relatively easy to make, just make sure to follow the right steps to achieve this absolutely fabulous chicken soup.
You’ll love it!
So, we’ll need:
- 4 large chicken legs and 1/2 chicken breast
- 4 carrots, 2 large parsnips
- 1 parsley root & fresh parsley
- 1/2 medium size celery root (celeriac)
- 2 large onions, 2 egg yolks
- 1.25 cups (300g) high fat sour cream
- 5-6 large garlic cloves
- salt, black peppercorns
- white wine vinegar
🥣 How To Make This Sour Cream Garlic Chicken Soup
There are some steps you need to follow in order to make this delicious soup.
1. Put the chicken to boil
Put a large pot on the stove. Put in the chicken parts and cover with enough cold water to cover them well (18 cups).
Bring the water to a boil and lower the heat to medium/low. Skin the foam that is slowly formatting on the surface in the first 10-15 minutes.
You have to do this 2-3 times until the water remain somehow clear. Add 1/2 tbs salt and a pinch of peppercorns.
Continue to boil 30-45 minutes.
2. In with the veggies
Meanwhile, wash and peel the vegetables. Cut the carrots, celery root, parsley root and parsnip in large chunks. Onions in half.
Add them to the soup to boil together. Cover and simmer on medium/low heat until the meat falls off the bones and the veggies are cooked through.
That’s another 40 minutes, approximately.
3. Rearrange the soup
Turn off the heat and take off the vegetables and the meat. Let them cool a little bit so you can handle them.
Strain the soup to get rid of any floating particles. Take out the fridge the sour cream and eggs to bring them at room temperature.
Shred the meat and get rid off skin and bones. Work quickly because the meat dries out fast. Use a bowl with 2-3 ladles of soup to put the shredded meat until you finish the operation.
Ditch the onions, and chop the rest of the veggies. Decide if you’re gonna use all of them or only a part. I like to use 3/4 of them.
Put the shredded meat and the copped root vegetables back to the soup and turn on the heat again.
Bring them to boil together for another 3-4 minutes to nicely blend all favors.
Then turn off the heat and let the soup cool for 10 minutes.
4. Prepare the sour cream mixture
After 10 minutes cooling time, put the 2 egg yolks and the sour cream into a bawl. Mix them into a paste and slowly add 2-3 ladles of soup, stirring continuously.
Whisk well after each ladle of soup added to the paste. We want to slowly temper and accommodate the sour cream with the yolks and the hot soup.
Finally, add the diluted sour cream mixture to the soup and stir continuously until well combined.
To finish, add 5-6 tbs of vinegar and the crushed/grated garlic cloves to the soup. Taste for saltiness.
🥄 Garnish & Serve The Chicken Soup
Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and serve with confidence.
You’ll be wanting a second bawl of this soup. Is that good. 🙂
💡Tips About This Chicken Soup Recipe
- You can use any parts of chicken meat you have
- The deliciousness of this soup comes from the parsnip
- You can replace the vinegar with lemon juice but I like it better with vinegar
- You can add more vinegar and fresh garlic at serving time, delishhh!…
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Romanian Sour Cream Garlic Chicken Soup (Radauteana)
Ingredients
- 4 large chicken thighs
- 1/2 chicken breast
- 1,25 cups (300g) high fat sour cream
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 large onions
- 4 carrots
- 2 large parsnips
- 1/2 medium celery root
- 1 parsley root
- fresh parsley
- salt, black peppercorns to taste
- 4-6 garlic cloves + more to taste
- 4-5 tbsp white wine vinegar + more to taste
Instructions
- Put the meat to boil in cold water on medium-low heat. Skim the foam and let it simmer for 30-45 minutes. Add 1 tbsp salt and a pinch of black peppercorns.
- While the chicken is cooking, prepare the veggies. Wash and peel the carrots, parsnips, root celery and root parsley. Cut all the root vegetables in large chunks. Cut the onions in half. Add them to the meat to cook together until the meat falls off the bones. That will take another 30-40 minutes.
- Once the meat and vegetables are cooked, turn off the heat and take the veggies out on a large plate to cool a little so they can be chopped in small cubes. You may want to use only 3/4 of them. Ditch the onions. Take out of the fridge the sour cream and eggs to bring them to room temperature.
- In a large bawl, take off the chicken and try to move quickly so the meat remain hydrated. Strain the soup to remove any particles left and place it back to the same pot. Then put 2-3 ladles of soup in the meat bawl while you work on shredding it with 2 forks. Get rid of the bones and skin.
- Put the shredded meat and the chopped root vegetables back into the soup. Turn on the heat again and bring to boiling point for about 3-4 minutes so the flavors blend. Then tun off the heat and let the soup cool for about 10 minutes before you add the cream mixture.
- Mix the sour cream and the egg yolks into a bawl. Gently add to this mixture 2-3 ladles (one at a time) of soup to dilute and temper the sour cream before adding it to the hot pot of soup. Whisk well after each addition to incorporate the liquid into the mixture.
- Finally, add the sour cream mixture to the pot stirring continuously until well blended. Add the vinegar and grated garlic. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and serve.
Looks delicious!