Zeamă
Sour chicken soup
A clear, slightly sour chicken soup with home-made noodles and lovage
Photo: Mariany.Sava, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Superraptor123, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Zeamă is a clear, slightly sour chicken soup with home-made egg noodles, vegetables and a generous handful of lovage (leuștean). The sourness comes from borș, fermented bran water, or from lemon juice. In Moldova it is the standard soup on restaurant menus and at the Sunday table; in Romania a similar soup is usually called ciorbă de pui.
Origins and history
In Romanian the word zeamă simply means juice or broth. In the Republic of Moldova it is the usual name for the sour chicken soup that in Romania mostly appears on menus as ciorbă de pui. Traditionally the stock was made from a hen or cockerel from the family's own yard, a tough bird that needs long cooking and gives off plenty of flavour as a result. The Moldovan investment agency describes zeamă as a clear broth with sour borș and fresh herbs. Moldova.travel calls the soup a folk remedy for colds; others swear by it after an evening with too much wine.
What goes into it
The base is chicken, onion, carrot and often a red pepper or tomato. Once the stock has cooked, thin home-made egg noodles (tăiței de casă) go in. The souring comes at the end: with borș, the slightly sour liquid of fermented wheat or barley bran, or with lemon juice. Lovage, a herb with a flavour somewhere between celery and Maggi seasoning, is essential; dill and parsley round it off. If you cannot find lovage, you can use celery leaves.
Where and how to try it
Zeamă is on the menu of almost every restaurant serving Moldovan food and is eaten as a first course. It comes with a small pot of smântână and often a hot chilli, which people bite into between spoonfuls. At home a big pot is made for the whole family, especially in the cold months. A piece of bread or a slice of mămăligă on the side is customary.
Zeamă
Ingredients
Method
- Bring the chicken and water to the boil with 1 tsp salt and skim off the foam. Add the whole onion and simmer gently for 1 hour.
- Take out the chicken, remove the skin and bones and cut the meat into pieces. Discard the onion.
- Add the carrot, pepper, tomato and half the lovage to the stock and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the noodles and cook until done according to the packet.
- Return the meat to the pan, stir in the borș or lemon juice and bring briefly back to the boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Take off the heat, stir in the rest of the lovage, the dill and parsley, cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Serve with soured cream and hot chilli.
