Ostropel is everyday home cooking across Romania, a Sunday-pot dish whose name traces back through the Balkans to the idea of a sharp, vinegared sauce. Frugal and forgiving, it was the way village cooks stretched a single chicken into a meal for the whole family, leaning on garlic and tomatoes from the garden.
Fall-off-the-bone chicken in a glossy, tangy tomato sauce that punches with raw garlic added at the very end. Sopped up with soft polenta, it is comfort food at its most direct and homey.
Browning the chicken first builds a fond and deep savoury flavour, while the brief cook of tomato paste with flour both sweetens and thickens the sauce. Adding the garlic raw at the end preserves its pungent bite rather than mellowing it.
Variations
Made with rabbit, lamb or pork; a vegetarian version with just vegetables; some cooks add a splash of vinegar or wine for extra tang
On the Palate
Where Ostropel de Pui sits in the Romanian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 15 min
- 15 min
Season chicken thighs and drumsticks with salt and pepper.
- 210 min
Brown the chicken pieces in hot oil on all sides, then set aside.
Watch outBrown the chicken deep and leave the sticky bits on the pan — that fond is the backbone of the sauce's savour.
- 35 min
In the same pan, soften chopped onion until translucent.
- 43 min
Stir in tomato paste and a little flour, cooking briefly to deepen colour.
Watch outCook the tomato paste and flour a minute until the raw smell goes and it darkens — skip this and the sauce tastes flat and floury.
- 54 min
Add grated fresh tomatoes or passata and a splash of water, then return the chicken.
- 630 min
Simmer gently, covered, until the chicken is tender and the sauce thickens, about 30 minutes.
- 73 min
Crush plenty of garlic into a paste and stir it through off the heat.
Watch outStir the crushed garlic in off the heat — cooked it goes sweet and mild, but raw at the end is what gives this dish its sharp bite.
- 83 min
Scatter with chopped parsley and serve over warm mamaliga.
