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Coliva for Soul Saturdays Romanian Style

February 8, 2010 by orthodoxfastingrecipes

I love all things Romanian. I love the language, the accent, the food, the clothes, the friendly people.

I even love the unarranted parenting advice from the ladies. !ut, the thing I love most about

Romanian culture and church is the coliva. I can"t imagine someone ho wouldntlove this stuff.

Romanian coliva is seet ith a pudding li#e texture, a bit of crunch, andmost importantly, it is fast

friendly. For you lovers of $ree# style #oliva, don"t orry, I"ll post a recipe for you too.

%he most important ingredient to good Romanian style coliva is something called &s#inless heat.'

&(hat on )arth is s#inless heat*' you as#. (ell, as far as I can tell &s#inless heat' is a heat berry

ithout the bran. It is li#e hite rice or hulless barley. !oth of these have the outer s#in removed for

faster coo#ing. +nfortunately, removing the bran also removes a good bit of the ! vitamin content

found in heat. %hat is ho you ma#e hite flour and it is hy hite flour is fortified at the end of

processing.

For those of you luc#y enough to live close to erbian party stores, in or around -etroit, s#inless

heat should be easy to find. For the rest of us s#inless heat is elusive. Fortunately, I"ve figured out

ho to ma#e your on at home. (hat follos are my notes from an entire day of coliva

experimentation. %hree batches later perfection.

(heat bran coming off the berries

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(heat bran collecting on the side of bol

&Roughed up' heat berries

tic#y processed heat berries, ready for the other ingredients

(alnut crumbs of perfection

ready to decorate

First, the master recipe/

1 1 c (hole heat berries I recommend soft hite3

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1 %bs vanilla extract

14 c sugar

2 c $round alnuts

14 c Raisins

5est of one orange

5est of one lemon

1 p#g graham crac#ers

6odered sugar for decorating

Step 1.7ord bless my or#.

Step 2. #in the heat as follos/

6ut the heat in the food processor to chop up the bran a little, then rinse the heat in a bol and

drained off the bran ith the ater. !e careful, I don"t #no if this ill rec# your processor or not as

heat berries are hard as nails. y is still or#ing but yours may be delicate.3

I repeated this a fe times until the surface of the berries loo#ed really rough.

Step 3. 6lace berries in a pot and cover ith ater about an inch over the top. 9dd both :ests. !ring

the berries to a boil the berries then simmer for ;0 minutes until they are tender but ool to room temperature so the starch can start to congeal.

Step 4. -rain off any remaining ater and put the heat bac# into the food processor for a couple of

?uic# bursts. %his ill get the starch floing and the heat gooping. %he berries should be a little

chopped up and very stic#y.

@@6lease note that you ill

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Step 7. 6ress the coliva into a pretty bol or platter.

Step 8. !last the graham crac#ers in the food processor. 6ut these on top of the coliva to serve as a

base for the podered sugar. If you do not use the crac#ers the sugar ill soa# right in and your

coliva ill be delicious but ugly.

Step 9.-ust ith podered sugar until the top is pure hite.

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dd 200 g o the crushed walnuts and stir till all these etra ingredients incorporate in

the wheat composition evenly. 3our coliva is now almost ready all it needs is the dcor

that will make it ft or the liturgy.

6lace the composition on a large platter and orm the coliva with your hands, respecting

its shape make sure you even the coliva to look like a cake. 7oliva can take any orm

rectangular, oval or round, and sometimes even cross.- !ith the rest o the crushed

walnuts and crushed graham crackers cover the coliva on the top and the sides. dd

powder sugar and then make your ornaments out o chocolate and candy. 3ou can even

use hal walnuts to orm a cross or to ornate the sides o the coliva.

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8 hope the images posted give you some ideas on how to ornate this dish. 7oliva is very

delicious, and many people choose to eat it in other occasions that those related to

death. 8 you want to do so, simply skip the shaping and decorating.