Soups📍 OlteniaMedium🌱 Vegan🥗 Vegetarian✝️ Orthodox fasting🐟 Pescatarian🥛 Dairy-free🥦 Clean eating🫒 Mediterranean

Oltenian Stuffed 'Crayfish' Pepper Sour Soup

Name: Oltenian Stuffed 'Crayfish' Pepper Sour Soup
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Romanian
Ingredients: 12–14 'raci' peppers — long, red, meaty peppers, 8–10 cm (elongated kapia or long pointed sweet peppers); 1 large leek (white part), finely chopped (or 1 large onion); 2 tbsp sunflower oil; 3 tbsp wheat flour; 2 tbsp cornmeal; 100–150 ml warm sauerkraut juice (or warm water); salt and pepper to taste; 3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped (or 300 ml tomato juice); 1 large onion, finely chopped; 2 carrots, sliced or diced; 1 parsley root, diced; 1/4 celeriac, diced (optional); 2 tbsp sunflower oil; 1.5 l water or vegetable stock; salt to taste; 1 whole hot chilli pepper (optional); 400–500 ml bran sour liquid (borș), or sauerkraut juice, or lemon juice to taste; 1 generous bunch fresh lovage, chopped; 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped; salt and black pepper to taste

Oltenian 'crayfish' sour soup contains no actual crayfish — the name comes from the long, red, curved peppers locally called 'raci' (crayfish) in Oltenia, due to their shape resembling a crayfish tail. In its authentic form the peppers are not chopped: they are hollowed out and stuffed with a leek, flour, and cornmeal filling, then simmered whole, standing upright, in a tomato-and-root-vegetable soup soured with borș or sauerkraut juice. The aroma of fresh lovage and the sweet-sour flavor of the stuffed peppers make it unmistakable. A 100% vegetarian dish deeply rooted in Oltenian cooking.

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Servings

⏱️

Prep

40 min

🔥

Cook

40 min

⏰

Total

80 min

🥘Ingredients

servings

Peppers for stuffing

Leek filling

Vegetable soup base

Souring

Finishing

📝Preparation steps 🗓️Add to Meal Planner🎨Serving & Presentation

✅Dietary Compatibility

🌱Vegan🥗Vegetarian✝️Orthodox fasting🐟Pescatarian🥛Dairy-free🥦Clean eating🫒Mediterranean

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Yield

4 servings (12–14 stuffed peppers)

📦Storage

❄️

Refrigerator

Up to 3 days in a covered container in the refrigerator; reheat over low heat

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Freezer

Can be frozen without lovage — add fresh lovage when reheating

🥗Nutrition Facts

Values per serving (approx. 3 stuffed peppers + 350 ml broth)

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Calories

150 kcal

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Protein

3 g

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Fat

5 g

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Carbohydrates

22 g

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Fiber

4 g

🍷Pairs Well With

🥂Homemade bread or buttered cornbread

🥂Full-fat sour cream

🥂Pickled hot pepper (Oltenian specialty)

🥂Dry Oltenian white wine (Craiova, Drăgășani)

💡Variations

Lenten version with dried peppers: instead of fresh peppers, use dried 'raci' peppers, soaked for a few hours in warm water before cleaning and stuffing.

Use onion instead of leek for the filling — an equally traditional, simpler variant found in some Oltenian households.

Add 2–3 diced potatoes along with the carrots for a heartier and more filling soup.

Add green beans or summer zucchini for a soup richer in seasonal vegetables.