Romanian and Turkish cuisine Similarities and Influences
Romanian and Turkish cuisine Similarities and Influences
Introduction Cuisine, like anything related to a country Cuisine, country`s `s specific culture and traditions is a very important matter, due to its universal nature, the fact that anyone can become acquainted with it with little to no effort, as food is an indispensable part of our lives lives.. Through this presentation, we would like to show you some interesting aspects regarding the cuisine of two European countries countries:: Romania and Turkey, pinpointing what makes each one unique, what similarities can be drawn between them and, moreover, how they influenced each other other.. We hope that you will like it and hopefully try out some of their traditional dishes!
Romanian and Turkish cuisine Similarities and Influences
Romanian Cuisine
Romanian cuisine is a diverse blend of different dishes from several traditions with which it has come into contact, but it also maintains its own character. It has been greatly influenced by Ottoman cuisine, while it also includes influences from the cuisines of other neighbours, such as Germans, Serbs, Bulgarians and Hungarians. Romanian recipes bear the same influences as the rest of Romanian culture. The Turks have brought meatballs (perişoare in a meatball soup), from the Greeks there is musaca, from the Austrians there is the şniţel, and the list could continue. The Romanians share many foods with the Balkan area (in which Turkey was the cultural vehicle), with Central Europe (mostly in the form of German-Austrian dishes introduced through Hungary or by the Saxons in Transylvania) and Eastern Europe. Some others are original or can be traced to the Roman or other ancient civilizations. The lack of written sources in Eastern Europe makes impossible to determine today the punctual origin for most of them.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine Similarities and Influences
Turkish cuisine Turkish cuisine (Turkish: Türk mutfağı) is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines.Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including those of Western Europe. The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm with influences from Middle Eastern cuisines, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia (such as yogurt), creating a vast array of specialities—many with strong regional associations.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine Similarities and Influences
Ottoman influence For 276 years, Romania was under the rules of the Ottoman Empire. Turkish cuisine changed the Romanian table with appetizers made of eggplant, peppers or other vegetables, various meat preparations like spicy chiftele (deep-fried meat balls), and the famous mici (short sausages without casings, usually barbecued). The various ciorbe (sour soups), and vegetables-and-meat stews, such as iahnie de fasole (beans), ardei umpluti (stuffed peppers), and sarmale (stuffed cabbage) are also of Turkish (and Arab) influence. The beloved rich (Romanian) tomato salad is a version of the Lebanese dish. And a unique procession of sweets, pastries combining honey and nuts, such as baklava, sarailie (serai-gli), halva, and rahat(Turkish delight), which is nowadays used in cakes. Through the following slides, we would like to draw some lines between the Ottoman cuisine and the Romanian one, showing how the former has influnced the latter.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine
Sarma
Similarities and Influences
Sarma is a dish of grape, cabbage or chard leaves rolled around a filling usually based on minced meat, or a sweet dish of filo dough wrapped around a filling often of various kinds of chopped nuts. It is found in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire from the Middle East to the Balkans and Central Europe. In Turkey, sarma is eaten as an everyday, ordinary dish. There are also restaurants specializing in sarma. In Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Armenia, Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, and Romania,sarmale is a traditional meal for Christmas and other religious holidays. In Romania, sarmale is often served with sour cream, mamaliga, hot pepper and smoked meat. Traditionally, a pot filled with sarme/sarmale is usually prepared for an entire family. Sarma is often served as one of the main dishes during wedding ceremonies. In diasporic communities, it is often cherished as a reminder of their formerhomelands.
Ardei umplutiumplutiStuffed peppers
Romanian and Turkish cuisine Similarities and Influences
Ardei umpluĹŁi is Romanian for "stuffed peppers". Ardei umpluĹŁi, in the Romanian cuisine, are usually prepared with bell peppers (or a similar species) stuffed with ground meat, usually pork, rice, onion and other vegetables and spices. The peppers are stuffed with the ingredients and then baked in a rich, tomato based sauce. This dish as influenced by the Turkish cuisine. It is very similar to the "Punjena paprika" of Serbian cuisine and the "pelnene chiushki" of Bulgarian cuisine.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine Similarities and Influences
Chiftele- Kofta ChifteleKofta-Meatballs Chiftele, plural form of chiftea, are flat and round meatballs from Romanian traditional cuisine. Chiftele are usually made with minced pork meat, mixed with mashed potatoes and spices and deep fried. Chiftele is served with pilaf or mashed potatoes. A variant mixing rice meatball is called perişoare for sour soup, making ciorbă de perişoare. There is a recipe named chiftele de peşte (fish chiftele) consisting of fishcake made with carp. The word chiftea comes from the Turkish language Kofta. But the recipe of chiftele is very different. In Turkey kofta is plain meat and not made with pork meat, because it is haraam in Islam. The centuries of Ottoman presence in Romania has left many traces of the Ottoman culinary arts. The chiftele is a variation of kofta, a Turkish meatball.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine
Mititei
Similarities and Influences
Mititei or mici( both Romanian words meaning "small things") is a traditional Romanian dish of grilled ground meat rolls made from a mixture of beef, lamb and pork and spices such as garlic, black pepper, thyme, coriander, anise, savory and sometimes a touch of paprika. Sodium bicarbonate and broth or water are also added to the mixture. It is best served accompanied by mustard and beer. Ideally the mustard should not be overly tart, lest it interferes with the taste of the mititei. The dish is very popular in Romania. Nowadays, they are sold both fresh in restaurants and pre-made in grocery stores. Romanian version The journalist Constantin BacalbaČ™a wrote in his book Dictatura gastronomică that mititei were invented one night at an inn called Iordache on Covaci's street in the old Bucharest, held by a Transylvanian named Ionescu Iordache, who was famous for his sausages. One evening while he was missing sausage casings, he laid the rolls of meat directly onto the grill. Bosnian version Another source reports the Bosnian origin of the national dish mititei, with the Bosnian Cevapcici. Many Bosnian dishes are similar to those of Romania, such as some sausages. However, most recipes for the former Yugoslavia are reminiscent of Turkish cuisine, hence it is not surprising, given that both countries were under Ottoman influence, that their two national dishes, the mici and the adana kebab are like cevapcici.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine
Pilaf
Similarities and Influences
Pilaf (also known as pilav, plov, palao, polu and pulaw) is a dish in which rice is cooked in a seasoned broth. In some cases, the rice may also attain its brown color by being stirred with bits of cooked onion, as well as a large mix of spices. Depending on the local cuisine, it may also contain meat, fish, vegetables, and (dried) fruits. Pilaf and similar dishes are common to Balkan, Romania, Middle East, Caucasian, Central and South Asian, East African, Latin American, and Caribbean cuisines. It is a staple food and a national dish in Afghan, Uzbek, Tajik, and Bukharan Jewish cuisines.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine
Ciorba--Çorba Ciorba
Similarities and Influences
Ciorbă, from Arabic, via the Turkish word çorba is a general Romanian word describing sour soups consisting of various vegetables and meat. Most Romanians differentiate between "supă" (soup) and "ciorbă" by the fact that soup has no added acid and is most of the times clear (there's only one exception), while ciorbă may contain a wide variety of sour ingredients, usually lemons, borş or "zeamă de varză acră" (Sauerkraut juice). In Moldova, the word borş means soup. Lovage is a frequent addition. Before the popularisation of the typical Turkish breakfast, soup was the default morning meal for some people.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine
Baklava
Similarities and Influences
Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of phyllo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey. It is characteristic of the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, but is also found in Central and Southwest Asia, as well as in Romania and Balcan countries. Baklava is normally prepared in large pans. Many layers of phyllo dough, separated with melted butter, are laid in the pan. A layer of chopped nuts—typically walnuts or pistachios, but hazelnuts are also sometimes used—is placed on top, then more layers of phyllo. Most recipes have multiple layers of phyllo and nuts, though some have only top and bottom pastry. Before baking, the dough is cut into regular pieces, often parallelograms (lozenge-shaped), triangles, or rectangles. A syrup, which may include honey, rosewater, or orange flower water is poured over the cooked baklava and allowed to soak in. Romanians love baklava because it is easy to bake and buy, making it a tasty delight.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine
Rahat – Lokum Lokum-Turkish delight
Similarities and Influences
Turkish delight, Lokum or Rahat in Romanian is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios, and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; traditional varieties are mostly gel, generally flavored with rosewater, mastic, Bergamot orange, or lemon. The confection is often packaged and eaten in small cubes dusted with icing sugar, copra, or powdered cream of Tartar, to prevent clinging. Other common types include such flavors as cinnamon and mint. In the production process, soapwort may be used as an emulsifying additive. Rahat is eaten as is or is added in many Romanian cakes called cornuleĹŁe, cozonac or salam de biscuiti.Traditionally in Romania and the Balkans generally, the rahat is served with coffee.
Romanian and Turkish cuisine Similarities and Influences
Conclusion In the end, we can say that the Turkish cuisine had a great impact on Romania’s Romania’s traditional dishes, introducing many types of food that we, Romanians, cannot imagine life without. To conclude, we would like to point out that Romanian and Turkish recipes make a great team.