Best Romanian Pea Stew (Mancare de mazare)

Granny Victoria used to cook the best Romanian pea stew (mancare de mazare) and she had a secret ingredient we are going to share with you today in the Notes section of the Pea stew recipe card. Can you guess what the secret ingredient is? Read on and tell us in the comment section what the secret ingredient is if you figure it out before you get to the recipe 😊.

What kind of dish is the Romanian pea stew (mancare de mazare)?

The Romanian pea stew is a student and family friendly comfort food, and it is made with peas, carrots, tomato sauce and onion. You can use fresh or frozen peas and vegetables. This dish is perfect for beginners, and it requires less than 45 minutes prep and cooking time. Serve this on its own or a simple, healthy side dish.

Check out more Romanian traditional recipes on Cooking Romanian by Vivi:

The history of peas

According to peas.org

Peas are thought to have originated in Middle Asia and the central plateau of Ethiopia.

The oldest pea ever found was nearly 3,000 years old and discovered on the border of Burma and Thailand.

Peas were known to the Greeks and Romans (the Romans grew 37 different varieties at one point) and these early types were first mentioned in England after the Norman conquest.

 (Source)

What’s the price of peas in Romania?

A kilo of canned peas is about 10 Ron (2 Eur).

Other Romanian recipes with peas:

• Romanian beef salad – salată de boeuf
• Potato pea stew – mâncare de mazăre și cartofi
• Meat or sausage pea stew – mâncare de mazăre cu carne sau cârnați

Before you go to the best Romanian pea stew (mancare de mazare) recipe, let’s see the ingredient list:

Ingredients:

• Casa Taraneasca frozen peas,
• Casa Taraneasca frozen vegetable mix,
• dill and parsley chopped,
• spice mix,
• tomato sauce,
• lemon,
• butter,
• salt.

Best Romanian Pea Stew (Mancare de mazare)

Recipe by ViviCourse: Lunch, Dinner, Main, SidesCuisine: RomanianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Total time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 🍲1 liter of water or vegetable stock

• 🍲2 cups fresh or frozen peas

• 🍲1 cup carrot, pea, celery root vegetable mix (or just chopped carrots)

• 🍲1 onion chopped

• 🍲150 g tomato paste

• 🍲75 g butter

• 🍲1 tsp sugar (optional, if the peas don’t have the natural sweetness)

• 🍲salt, pepper to taste

• 🍲juice of ½ lemon or lime

• 🍲1-2 tbsp cilantro and/or dill, parsley chopped

Directions

• 🥘Heat olive oil in a skillet and sauté the onion until golden (we did not add onion this time)
• 🥘Bring the water to a boil in a 3-liter stew pot
• 🥘Add (Casa Taraneasca) peas and vegetable mix
• 🥘Add the sautéed onion
• 🥘Bring to a boil and cover. Cook for 10 minutes.
• 🥘In a cup, mix tomato paste with some water
• 🥘Add salt and pepper to taste
• 🥘Add tomato paste and butter
• 🥘Add sour cream
• 🥘Cover and boil over medium heat for 20-30 minutes
• 🥘Add lemon juice
• 🥘Add dill and parsley
• 🥘Serve as side or main.

Recipe Video

Notes

• 🍲You can use chicken or vegetable broth instead of water.
• 🍲Sauté an onion, bring the water to a boil, and add the onion. We did not add the onion this time because Adara does not like sautéed onion in her pea stew.
• 🍲Add 1 tsp sugar when you add the butter if you like the sweeter taste. Butter is the secret ingredient my Granny used when cooking pea stew, and it is a game changer.
• 🍲Add 2 tbsp of sour cream or substitutes: heavy cream, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, or coconut cream.
• 🍲Add 1 tbsp all-purpose flour instead of sour cream to help the sauce get thicker.
• 🍲Add fresh cilantro, dill or parsley at the end. We used both dill and parsley this time.

Vivi is a passionate teacher, story teller and photographer. Adara is a passionate accountant, businesswoman and videographer. On Cooking Romania by Vivi, the Mom and Daughter play together at the intersection of self and food mastery.