Gypsy cuisine: recipes with photos

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

To understand the basics of gypsy cuisine, you must first study the history of the people, whose representatives call themselves "Roma". It is known that this ethnic group is non-territorial, that is, it does not have its own country. However, according to various sources, there are between five and eleven million Roma living in the world. This people had a great influence on European music. As for the national cuisine of the Roma, the reverse process is observed here.

Gypsies borrowed the culinary recipes of those peoples where they lived for a long time. From the Roma cookbook, you can learn about the complex migration routes of this people - from the Hindustan Peninsula to Portugal itself. That is why gypsy cuisine is so heterogeneous.

As in the Jewish one, due to the settlement of this people around the world, it is distinguished by northern and southern directions. The former often uses potatoes, beets, sauerkraut, while the latter uses chickpeas and corn. However, talking aboutin the kitchens of "aliys" and "sephardim" in the gypsy version is not necessary. The Roma have retained common cooking skills, primarily due to their nomadic lifestyle.

In their kitchen there are a lot of dishes from meat baked on an open fire and thick soups cooked in a cauldron. The difficult history of this people, who experienced a lot of persecution and hunger, was also reflected in the products that the Roma used. So, the B altic and Polish Roma eat hedgehogs - stewed or fried. This is due to forced life in the forest thickets during times of persecution.

In this article, we will not touch on the hedgehog, but we will consider other delicious dishes of gypsy cuisine. Recipes with photos can be found below.

Spicy soup

Pork (250 g) cut into thin strips. We scald half a kilo of tomatoes with boiling water, remove the skin and cut into cubes. We take out the grains from three bell peppers of different colors, chop the pulp into strips. Mince five cloves of garlic. We chop two onions into strips. Cut 125 g of lard into small cubes.

The gypsy cuisine you are learning about is often cooked over an open fire. They can be borrowed for cooking Sabantuy in nature - on a hike or in the country. We take a cauldron, put a spoonful of lard there and fry the meat on this fat. Gradually add lard, onion and pepper. Then garlic, s alt and spices. Pour a glass of dry red wine full to the brim and cut two dry chili peppers into small pieces. Strain a jar of canned red beans. Finely chop parsley, basil, thyme and thyme (several stems each). Add tomatoes, beans, a teaspoon of sugar and herbs to the cauldron.

Pour 500-700 milliliters of water. Simmer over low heat until done.

Gypsy borscht

As mentioned above, the nomadic Roma cookbook absorbed the culinary traditions of the indigenous settled peoples. As you might guess, gypsy cuisine borrowed borscht from Ukrainians.

Six hundred grams of pork cut into small pieces. Fry it over very high heat until the fat is completely melted. When the meat is browned, put it on a plate. We collect pork fat. We clean and cut into strips: four hundred grams of potatoes, cabbage, beets, three onions and carrots each.

Fry all vegetables separately in melted pork fat. Transfer them to a soup bowl. Pour a little water and simmer for 25 minutes on low heat.

We put the meat in a cast-iron goose and stew it with four chopped tomatoes. When it is ready, put a kettle on fire with two liters of water.

Add meat with tomatoes to other vegetables, pour boiling water. Add s alt, bay leaf, spices to taste. Simmer borscht under the lid over low heat for another half an hour.

Korzhiki

How did the Roma bake bread? After all, nomadic life does not provide for the presence of a real stove. But in gypsy cuisine there are unusually tasty dough balls called pugaccio. And also - a variety of cakes that are baked right on hot stones in a fire.

But the settledgypsies living in the vastness of Eastern and Central Europe have recipes for cookies and pies that need to be cooked in the oven. They may or may not be sweet.

We bring to your attention a recipe for shortcakes with cracklings and caraway seeds. First of all, cut the fat into small pieces. We make greaves out of it. Grind them even more with a rolling pin. Add two or three egg yolks, a teaspoon of s alt and soda.

Sift two cups of wheat flour into this mass. Knead the dough. It must be very cool. Roll out the dough into a layer half a centimeter thick. With an inverted glass, cut circles out of it.

Prick their upper surface with a fork, brush with a little whipped egg white and sprinkle with cumin. We shift the products on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Send for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes in the oven, not very hot.

Gypsy cuisine, recipes with photos: second courses

From the meat of the Roma in honor of chicken and other poultry, pork, beef, and lamb. The latter is considered an expensive holiday dish. Now we will learn how to make lamb shulum. Like many other national Roma dishes, this one is cooked over a campfire.

Kilogram of lamb cut and mix with four chopped onion rings. We knead a little with our hands and leave to marinate for a quarter of an hour.

Put 150 grams of fat tail fat in a cauldron, heat it up and fry meat with onions on it. Add four medium-sized carrots. Pour intoa pot of water. Add half a head of cabbage, two bay leaves, ten peppercorns.

Cut a kilogram of potatoes in a cauldron. Simmer covered until vegetables are cooked. Two tomatoes scalded with boiling water. We remove the skin from them and cut them coarsely into a cauldron. Add two pods of dry pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, eight juniper berries, s alt and herbs to taste.

We continue to simmer under the lid until this gypsy dish is fully cooked. Add water if needed.

Pork ribs

We need a kilo of meat on the bone. We cut, wash, rub with a mixture of s alt and black pepper. We leave for twenty minutes. Pour a little vegetable oil into the cauldron. Fry pork ribs on meat until appetizing crust.

Gypsy cuisine often uses a lot of spices. And in this case, we do not regret seasonings. It can be a special mix for pork, or spices of your choice. Mandatory black pepper and nutmeg.

While the meat is fried, peel a kilogram of potatoes. We cut it into a cauldron, fry until cooked. At the end, add a tomato. It is better to remove the skin from it. To do this, the tomato is dipped in boiling water for a second.

Serve pork ribs with potato and tomato garnish to the table, sprinkled with fresh herbs.

Holiday Roast

Gypsy cuisine, recipes with photos of which are presented here, also knows truly luxurious dishes. They are prepared for special occasions such as weddings and in large quantities.

Half a literdilute the water with a glass of grape vinegar, bring this solution to a boil. Add two finely chopped onions, two tablespoons of sugar and spices for the roast. Cool the marinade and put the chopped beef (kilogram) there. Leave for two days in a cool place.

Dry the meat with a paper towel, rub with pepper and s alt. We put two tablespoons of melted butter in a cauldron. Fry meat on it.

In a separate bowl, mix 125 milliliters of marinade and meat broth. We crumble there 50 g of sweet gingerbread. Pour this liquid into a bowl. Stew for at least an hour under the lid.

Soak two hundred and fifty grams of dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, prunes, figs) in warm water until softened. Drain, transfer to 125 ml of apple juice. Let's boil it. Let's add some juice from the roast. Let's boil a little.

This sauce can be served on its own or drizzled over stir-fries when serving.

Pork at the stake

We have already mentioned that due to the nomadic life of the Roma, many gypsy recipes involve cooking over an open fire. And in this case, you need to skillfully regulate the strength of the flame. Needless to say, the quality of wood for a fire directly affects the taste of the dish?

One kilogram of pork tenderloin, wash, dry and cut across the fibers into pieces 1.5-2 centimeters wide. Lightly beat with a hammer. Sprinkle both sides with black pepper and s alt. When the fire is very hot, put the meat on a clean sheet of tin or a dry cast-iron pan. Fry for half a minute with eachhand.

When a golden crust appears on the chops, remove them from the fire and put them in a metal dish with a lid. We place them there in layers, shifting each with a generous handful of parsley, dill and cilantro. Cover with a lid.

We put the dishes near the fire, and when it burns out, on the coals. In a quarter of an hour the meat is ready. Gypsy cuisine is not very fond of fish. But if the Roma manage to catch it, they cook it in a similar way.

Gypsy cutlets

It would be more correct to say "brizoli". After all, the Roma camp rarely carries a meat grinder with them. Minced meat for cutlets in the gypsy national cuisine is prepared by simply cutting the pulp into small pieces. We can follow the example of the Roma and cut half a kilo of chicken in this way. But we can also just buy a given amount of minced meat.

By the way, these cutlets can be cooked from turkey and pork. Add two eggs to the minced meat, squeeze out a second clove of garlic, sprinkle with s alt and spices. Finely chop a few sprigs of dill. Chop the onion and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown.

We will also add three tablespoons of potato starch and twice as much mayonnaise to the minced meat. We heat a dry cast-iron pan or a clean plaque on a fire. We make cutlets from minced meat and lay them out to fry. Serve them with some side dish.

Goose in wine

Gypsy cuisine (photos of dishes prove it) is very simple, but nevertheless delicious. Basically, it is dominated by various types of meat, baked,fried or stewed with lots of spices. This recipe is used by Romanian and Hungarian Roma, often leading a sedentary lifestyle.

The goose carcass should be cut into pieces. From two glasses of dry white wine, 2 onions chopped in half rings, 2 bay leaves, a clove of garlic, a handful of chopped parsley, a teaspoon of thyme, s alt and six peas of allspice, prepare a marinade. Keep the goose in it for at least an hour (preferably overnight in a cool place). After that, do not pour out the marinade.

We take out the goose and put it in a deep baking sheet, overlaying pieces of bacon on all sides. Bake in the oven on high heat. It is often necessary to turn the goose and water it with the secreted juice. After half an hour, when the meat becomes golden, add the marinade and two cups of chicken broth.

Reduce the heat, cover the dishes and simmer for another hour until the goose meat is soft.

Side dishes

Since the Roma were not engaged in gardening, vegetables appeared on their table from time to time. At the same time, the northern gypsy cuisine, the recipes with photos of which you have already read, preferred to deal with potatoes. Southern Roma used a wider range of vegetables. In their cookbook, we find dishes from eggplant, zucchini, corn.

Try fusui, a Balkan rum dish. In translation, this word simply means "beans". The main ingredient must be red. Beans are soaked in the evening, boiled in the morning. But you can use a canned product with equal success. It will take a banknet weight 850 grams.

But first, three or four large onions should be peeled and cut into strips. Pour three tablespoons of vegetable oil into the pan. Pass the onion until it turns golden.

Drain the beans and put them in the pan. Add ready-made Gypsy sauce. If it is not available, you can use tomato paste by adding black and red peppers and cumin to it. Bring to a boil.

Add s alt to taste and season with spices. This dish is good hot as a side dish for meat. But it's also delicious cold. It can be served as an appetizer.

Gypsy cuisine, recipes: baking

Despite the fact that Roma cook food on a fire, in their cookbook there are several recipes from dough. What is the cost of traditional bread "Bokmoro". It is made from flour, yeast, water, sugar, s alt, eggs, garlic, olive oil, black pepper and honey. The proportions are different for every hostess. Eating such bread brings good luck.

And here is another baking recipe - this time sweet. The recipe for "Gypsy Mazurka" is taken from the Roma living in Poland. Grind five yolks with 200 grams of sugar. Whisk the egg whites into a fluffy foam. Combine both parts of the eggs, add one hundred grams of sifted flour. Measure out 100 g of raisins, nut kernels, figs, dates; 50 g each of candied orange peel.

Soak dried fruits. Roast the nuts in a dry frying pan. Rub the zest. Grind dried fruits, candied fruits and nuts. Put all this mass on the finished waffle cakeeven layer. Place in a moderately heated oven and bake for half an hour.