Cumin soup is an old, fragrant soup from the villages of Maramureș, made with flour dumplings and a sour cream roux. The recipe comes from Oanța Ileana, 73 years old, from Călinești, and is part of the culinary traditions collected by the Maramureș Museum in Sighetu Marmației.
🥣 Ingredients
- water
- cumin – 1 tablespoon
- egg – 1
- flour
- oil – 1 tablespoon (for dumplings and roux)
- milk
- sour cream
- salt
👩🍳 Method
Boil water with a tablespoon of cumin and strain it. When the water boils, add the flour dumplings, made from one egg, flour and a tablespoon of oil. When the dumplings are cooked, make a roux from a tablespoon of flour roasted in oil, quenched with milk mixed with sour cream. Season with salt to taste.
The soup made without dumplings (only with roux) can be eaten with dried or fried pitta bread, broken into pieces in the soup bowl.
📖 The story of the recipe
Recipe from Oanța Ileana, 73 years old, from Călinești, a village in the historic Maramureș region. Cumin — called „chiminoc” by the locals — gives the soup a special flavour, while the milk and sour cream roux makes it velvety and hearty. It is eaten hot, especially in the cold season.
🔍 What’s next
If you liked the cumin soup, try the Beans soup (Zeamă de mazăre), a fasting recipe collected in Călinești, or the Pea pods soup, from the same village.
Photo source: Chefi.ro
Recipe from the collection „Maramureș – GastroEtnoArt”, published by the Maramureș Museum in Sighetu Marmației.











