Mujdei
Garlic sauce
A sharp sauce of raw garlic, salt and oil or water, for mămăligă, fish and grilled meat
Photo: User:Zserghei, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Mujdei is a sharp, white sauce of raw garlic crushed to a paste with salt and thinned with oil, water or stock. In Moldova it comes to the table with mămăligă, fried fish and grilled meat. The sauce belongs to Romanian and Moldovan cuisine and is related to Greek skordalia and Lebanese toum.
Origins and history
The name is a contraction of must de ai, literally garlic juice. In the cooking of Moldova and Romania garlic is no afterthought: it goes into meat in aspic, into marinades and into mujdei, which sits beside the food as a separate sauce. According to the description of the traditional Moldovan meal, mămăligă, pork or fried fish often go together with mujdei. Related sauces are found all around the Mediterranean: aioli in Provence, agliata in Italy, skordalia in Greece and toum in Lebanon. Unlike skordalia, which is thickened with bread or potato, mujdei is usually thin and fiercely sharp.
What goes into it
The base is simple: fresh garlic cloves, ground with coarse salt in a mortar or crushed to a smooth paste, then thinned little by little. In most homes this is done with sunflower oil, creating a light emulsion. When the sauce is served with soup or boiled meat, water or a little stock is often used instead. There are regional variations with cream or soured cream, with lemon juice or with a pinch of paprika. The consistency ranges from a spreadable paste to a thin, almost watery sauce.
Where and how to try it
Mujdei is put on the table in a small bowl, so you can spoon some over your mămăligă or dip a piece of fish or meat in it. It goes with fried river fish, grilled skewers, chicken, boiled meat and fried potatoes. In restaurants serving Moldovan food, feel free to ask for it if it does not come with your dish as standard. Expect a powerful, raw garlic kick that stays with you for hours.
Mujdei
Ingredients
Method
- Grind the garlic cloves with the salt in a mortar into a smooth, white paste. A garlic press followed by some rubbing with the back of a spoon also works.
- Add the oil drop by drop while stirring, so that a light emulsion forms.
- Thin with the water or stock to the consistency you want.
- Stir in the soured cream or lemon juice if you like and leave for 10 minutes so that the flavours come together.
- Serve in a small bowl with mămăligă, fried fish or grilled meat.
