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Passport & Plate - Prajitura Negresa

Romania | Sunday, March 9, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
6 tbsp vegetable oil
200 grams of your favorite jam
1 cup of hot water
2 tbsp cacao powder
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tbsp vinegar
Any kind of nuts or Turkish delight

How to prepare this recipe
1. Mix the oil, water and jam together with the sugar, flour and cacao powder
2. Dissolve the baking soda in the vinegar and stir it into the mix
3. Add the nuts or Turkish delight
4. Grease a pan with butter, or line it with tinfoil and put the mix in
5. Bake at 350 degrees C for half an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean
6. Let cool (if you can wait!) and enjoy with a glass of milk and some great company

The story behind this recipe
I grew up far away from my homeland.
When I was almost 3 years old, my parents moved us across the world from Romania’s capital city to Calgary, a chilly metropolis in Western Canada. I spent my youth living between two cultures. We spoke Romanian at home and my grandmothers took turns living with us to take care of me. At school and with my friends, I learned English and adapted to Canadian culture.
I was happy and well-adjusted but I always felt like something was missing. Between moving to Canada and turning 18, I had only visited Romania once. Naturally, I was intensely curious about my heritage and the culture my family left behind. Romania was and remains a beautiful, well-kept secret. Located on the Black Sea between the Ukraine, Hungary, and Bulgaria, it has any kind of scenery you’d want: beaches to party on, huge mountains to climb, forests to explore and gorgeous cities to get lost in.
Last October was my most recent trip home. One weekend, I took a spontaneous trip to an isolated village called Saticu de Sus in the middle of the country. My godmother’s brother lives here in a house he built by hand, and we spent a delightful fall evening having a traditional Romanian barbecue, drinking house wine, and sharing stories.
For dessert, Marcela, one of my mom’s friends from her youth, made a delicious Romanian cake called Prajitura Negresa. Being an avid baker and a lover of anything sweet, I of course asked her what was in it. She insisted it was very easy to make and scrawled the recipe onto a small sheet, which I’ve hung on to and made a few times since then.
At the beginning of my trip in October, I had set a goal for myself: to better understand where I came from. Making a batch of Prajitura Negresa to share with friends will always remind me of the cozy time I had in Saticu de Sus, where I got to know more of my heritage and met some unforgettable people.