Tochitura is a Romanian dish of stewed beef or pork that is traditionally served with over-easy eggs and mamaliga, a polenta-like porridge made with yellow maize flour and a salty sheep cheese called telemea.
The stew can be made with or without tomato sauce. The one without is more traditional and instead has a sauce of pork fat and meat juices.
Tochitura Moldoveneasca is the Moldavian version and this recipe comes from Fanfare Ciocarlia, a Romanian brass orchestra playing at 2015 WOMADelaide (March 6-9).
The band’s fierce Balkan funk has kept the true spirit of gypsy music alive through nine albums and 1500 international concerts.
Fanfare Ciocarlia (below) will be participating in WOMADelaide’s Taste the World event, which takes festival goers on a four-day international culinary adventure around the world.
Tochitura Moldoveneasca
Ingredients
1 kg fresh pork shank
½ kg pork ham
1 kg smoked pork sausages
½ kg fresh pork liver
½ kg telemea cheese
1 kg yellow maize flour
8 eggs
8 garlic cloves
100 g oil
50 g vinegar
salt and pepper
Method
First, cut the shank, ham, sausages and liver into 2 x 2cm cubes.
Saute ham in a deep frying pan for about 2 minutes, then add oil, shank, sausage and liver. Turn down heat and cook slowly for approx 30-40 minutes, allowing to stew.
Meanwhile, make the mamaliga (mush) by bringing 1 litre of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add 1 tablespoon of salt to boiling water and pour in yellow maize flour in a steady stream, stirring constantly until thickened. Set aside.
Boil water in another wide, deep frypan, ;dd salt and 1 tablespoon vinegar. Stir the water carefully and break 1 egg per person into the water. Allow to set, turn and allow to poach on the other side for another 20 seconds or so.
Remove eggs from the pan. Put one portion of mush (approximately 10 x 10cm) on each plate. Spoon meat around the mush and place an egg on top of the mush.
Grate the telemea cheese over the egg and the mush.
Serves 8
Join local chef and food identity Rosa Matto and selected WOMADelaide artists at Taste the World as they celebrate the delicious food and fascinating culture of their home countries, all entwined with musical interludes and intimate personal anecdotes. More information about Taste the World can be found here.
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New York/Israeli band Balkan Beat Box’s shakshuka breakfast eggs
Iranian/Australian artist Tara Tiba’s saffron chicken with barberry rice
