Easter food
The traditional Easter lamb also symbolizes Jesus. In Banat region, the remains of the sacrificed lamb are buried under an apple or a pear tree, in order that the family should be healthy.
Ciorba de miel
Ingredients: 2l water, 1l tomato sauce, 1kg lamb meat, 1 carrot, parsley, 1 onion, greens, the green from green onions, salt, 3 spoons of rice, 1 yolk, 2 spoons sour cream. In the water the meat is boiled. After boiling the cut vegetables are added. The boiled tomato juice is poured over the meat and the vegetables. The green from the green onions are added, the minced greens and the rice. After the rice boils the yolk is added and the sour cream.
Drob de miel
Ingredients: the entrails of a lamb, peritoneum, 2-3 tails from the green onions, green parsley, bean tressel, salt ,pepper, 2 boiled and minced eggs, 1 raw egg, butter, 2 spoons of sour cream.
In a pot the entrails are boiled: the liver, heart, lungs. The peritoneum is washed and left to cool. The boiled entrails are taken out on a plate and put in the fridge. Until the next day when they are put through the hewing machine. Also the onions with a little butter are hewed. The hew is put in a boul, the eggs are added one by one, salt, pepper, greens, sour cream. A pot is buttered; the peritoneum is laid at the bottom of the pot. The hew is put over the peritoneum, then its margins are raised and everything is rapped up. The whole thing is buttered and baked in the oven.
Stufat de miel
Ingredients: 1kg lamb meat, 15 bundles of green onions, 15 bundles of green garlic, a bundle of green parsley, a bundle of dill, flour, salt, tomato juice, oil.
The washed meat is cut into pieces and made nice and brown over a fire. When it’s ready the flour is added and everything is mixed with water and left to boil. The onions and the garlic are pealed and cut into pieces about 4-5cm large. They are put into the pot with the meat to boil. The minced greens are added along with the tomato juice and the salt. The mixture is left to boil several times.
Friptura
It’s not made everywhere from lamb meat. In some areas of Transilvania and especially in Banat the milk pig is customed. The roast must remain whole. After the lamb is fried, the head of the family has the responsability to cut it. To fit in the oven the animal has to be small.
Pasca cu branza de vaci
It’s round (a substitute of the Sun) and it has the symbol of the cross. In each of the four compartments of the cross an egg is placed. On the side the matzoth has a waist (the rope of life), and in the middle sweet cheese is put.
Through the way it’s made, the decorations, the matzoth represents a visual synthesis of Easter.
Ingredients: pound cake dough, 500gr of cow cheese, 100gr raisins, 3-4 eggs, 1 spoon of butter, the crust of a lemon, vanilla dust.
All the ingredients are mixed into a paste. A finger thick sheet is made from the dough and put into a round baking tray. From another piece of dough a role is made and placed over the initial sheet, on the side of the tray. The filling is placed in the middle. Over the top 2 more sheets are criss-crossed. After the matzoth grows a little it’s oiled with an egg and placed in the oven. It’s left to cool in the turned off oven.
In some regions matzoth is also made on Saint Gheorghe’s day and on Palms Day. A legend from Bucovina says that matzoth is made when Jesus with his apprentices walks the world. Leaving from a house they were given food. The apprentices asked when Easter is coming and Jesus said that Easter will come when they will find bread made from grain in their bags. They found just that.
The matzoth can be simple or complex. In this case the matzoth can have on the sides and in the middle knitting from the dough, the one in the middle being in the shape of a cross. This type of matzoth is called the cross matzoth. The simple matzoth is for the family and the cross matzoth is taken to the church on Easter to be sanctified.