Papanași is a traditional donut-shaped pastry with a small sphere on top. It can be fried or boiled, and it's made by adding unsalted cheese such as brânză de vaci (cow's milk cheese) or urdă to a regular flour and egg dough. The fried papanași are usually donut-shaped and can be served with fruit jams, a dollop of sour cream, or powdered sugar.
The boiled ones are smaller, nugget-shaped, and typically coated with a mix of breadcrumbs and sugar. This dessert can be found in most Romanian traditional restaurants or it can be prepared at home.
MOST ICONIC Papanași
Plăcintă, from the Latin word placenta which means flat cake, is a traditional fried pastry or a thin cake consisting of flour, water, eggs, milk, yeast, and a pinch of salt. This fried or deep-fried pastry is enjoyed warm, and it is usually stuffed with a sweet or savory filling.
A great variety of fillings can be used for the stuffing, including branza cheese, sweet cheese, mashed potatoes, shredded cabbage, apples, jams, and sour cherries, to name a few. Plăcintă’s texture and consistency can range from light and fluffy to doughy and crispy, resembling a flatbread.
VARIATIONS OF Plăcintă
Plăcintă cu mere is a Romanian dessert made with a filling of grated apples, cinnamon, sugar, and melted butter, which is spread evenly between two layers of baked dough, flavored with orange zest and vanilla sugar. It is not a typical pie, but more of a pastry-like cake, which can be eaten hot or chilled, and it is typically topped with powdered sugar.
This dish is usually consumed as a dessert, but it can also be eaten for breakfast or as a snack on the go. By removing the eggs and any optional dairy products from the dough, it can become a perfect sweet treat suitable for eating during the fasting period.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Plăcintă cu cartofi is a traditional pastry dish consisting of a flat, round dough patty that is stuffed with mashed potatoes, and then fried in oil or lard until golden brown on both sides. Grated cheese, salted butter, sautéed chopped onions, and spices can be added to the stuffing for extra flavor.
These fried patties are typically topped with cream cheese and usually served for breakfast, ideally with a cup of tea on the side.
Gogoși is a donut prepared the Romanian way, made with a dough mixture that is flavored with vanilla extract and grated lemon or orange peel, then deep-fried in hot oil. Traditional gogoși is prepared without yeast or butter, and the dough mixture is added to hot oil in spoonfuls, yielding donuts with different, irregular shapes, unlike the regular round-shaped donuts.
A typical homemade treat, gogoși can also be found in bakeries and supermarkets across Romania, sometimes labeled as gogoși infuriate, meaning infuriated gogoși. It is served warm with a generous dusting of icing sugar on top and can be filled with fruit jams or chocolate.
Scovergi is a traditional fried flatbread. Similar to the Hungarian lángos, the Romanian scovergi is usually made with a combination of flour, yogurt, yeast, eggs, salt, and oil. The flour, yogurt, eggs, salt, water, and yeast are mixed into a sticky dough that's left to rest in the fridge before it's rolled into circles and fried in hot oil on both sides over medium heat until golden.
The flatbreads are then typically arranged on a plate and covered with kitchen paper or cloth before serving so that they don't dry out and become too crisp. Scovergi are usually enjoyed as a snack, and they can also be sprinkled with grated cheese, if desired.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
A light dessert called plăcintă cu urdă is a traditional Romanian pastry filled with a mixture of urdă cheese, brânză cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla sugar. Raisins soaked in orange juice or rum, smântână, and orange or lemon zest are typically added to this dish for extra flavor.
The dessert can be eaten hot or chilled, topped with granulated sugar or a dusting of powdered sugar.
Mucenici (lit. martyrs) are traditional Romanian pastries made from a sweet dough similar to that used for cozonac. They are shaped in the form of number 8, and are then boiled in water with sugar, cinnamon, and crushed walnuts, while modern variations may also employ desiccated coconut.
The name of this dish derives from the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, a group of Christian Roman soldiers who were drowned in a lake during the persecutions of Diocletian. It is said that the pastries embody the martyrs, while the water in which they are boiled represents the lake where they had drowned.
Plăcintă cu ciocolată is a thin pastry with chocolate and nut filling. It is one of many Romanian plăcintă dishes that are stuffed with either savory or sweet fillings. This dessert is made with soft dough layers filled with chocolate, eggs, sugar, and chopped nuts, and flavored with orange zest and vanilla extract.
Its sweet and nutty flavor, enhanced by the refreshing orange zest and vanilla, will satisfy any sweet tooth.
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