This is a hardcore garlic sour cream sauce made with a whole garlic bulb, tomatoes, and sour cream.
This is the best sour cream garlic sauce, Romanian-style. That means more garlic than in any other garlic sauce you've ever tried!
I am Romanian, and if there is one thing that cannot be thought out of the Romanian kitchen, it is garlic. It is, at least for me, a crucial ingredient in cooking.
My family learned to love garlic as well. Both my children adore this garlic sauce with sour cream. When I make it as a side for grilled meat, they just forget about the meat completely and prefer to eat just garlic sauce on toasted bread.
If you like garlic, check out Garlic Bread Baguette, Chicken Parmesan Garlic Pasta, or Romanian Green Beans with Garlic; they are all amazing recipes!
Ingredients
Garlic: Use one or two whole bulbs, depending on their size, and adjust according to your taste. You can start with two or three cloves if you prefer less garlic, but if you like garlic, you'll likely enjoy the full amount. Even those who aren't used to eating a lot of garlic find this dish delicious and often eat more than expected.
Dairy: For authentic Romanian garlic sauce, I use smetana, a type of sour cream with over 20% fat. It's delicious! For a lower-fat option, you can substitute Greek yogurt or plain creamy yogurt (about 3.5% fat). This will slightly change the taste, but it will still be amazing.
Tomatoes: Deseed the tomatoes to prevent the sauce from becoming watery. Chop them finely for a better texture.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Good to know!
Warning! Eating this dish will leave you smelling like garlic for at least 24 hours. It’s best to enjoy it on a Friday, Saturday, or during a holiday. Otherwise, your coworkers might notice the smell. If you have leftovers (though I never do), share them with your colleagues so you can all enjoy the garlic together! 😊
The original Romanian garlic sauce, “mujdei,” like my grandma used to make, only contains garlic, salt, and water. That tastes great as well, but I like this version more. The original version can only be eaten as a runny sauce over meat, chicken with polenta, potatoes, and so on.
What to serve with it?
The garlic sour cream sauce can be enjoyed not only as a sauce for meat but also as a dip for vegetables, as a bread spread, on top of basic polenta, polenta souffle, or Mushroom Polenta Casserole. As you can see, garlic sauce and polenta go hand in hand.
But don't forget to try the sour cream garlic sauce with roasted potato wedges as well; you will definitely love it.
Garlic Sour Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- about 1 bulb garlic Note 1
- 2 teaspoons mustard
- 3 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 1 cups sour cream 500 g, Note 2
- 2 medium tomatoes
- fine sea salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
- Grate garlic: Peel the garlic cloves and grate them finely into a bowl. Add the mustard and some salt and mix well.about 1 bulb garlic + 2 teaspoons mustard + salt
- Add the oil gradually while stirring all the time, until the mixture emulsifies slightly, like a mayonnaise. 3 tablespoons sunflower oil
- Add the sour cream and mix well.1 cups sour cream/ 500 g
- Add tomatoes: Remove the seeds from the tomatoes and chop them very finely. Add to the bowl and stir gently. 2 medium tomatoes
- Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.fine sea salt and ground black pepper
Notes
- Garlic: Use less according to taste, but still be generous.
- Or smetana, creme fraiche. For a lower fat version, use Greek yogurt with at least 3% fat.
Astamari says
Your mujdei recipe (sour cream version) is very similar to others, which is fine so my comment has more to do with the garlic “controversy”, which I just don’t understand. I’m Irish and so grew up with having garlic in the form of garlic powder sprinkled daintily into spaghetti and other Italian dishes by my mother.
However, upon adulthood, I set out on an international career, living and working in many different countries. Though the cuisines vary widely, virtually every one of them employs garlic extensively (South and Southeast Asian, China, Japan, Korea, all of the Middle East, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe (including Germany!!!). I lived and worked in Romania for about 3 months over two years (mainly Bucharesti, the Black Sea coast and some time in Transylvania) and loved the food and the warm-hearted and hard drinking (“have some more palinca”).
As always, it is the freshness and quality of the local ingredients that make all the difference though Romanians also make some fine pickles (also one of the very few things that Russians do well (otherwise all of “their” food is actually Ukrainian). Anyway, there are literally several billion more people that really like garlic (and the other allium species like onions, shallots, leeks, scallions and others) thann those who do not.
Adina says
Thank you for the comment.
gabriella becker says
I love your site! What kind of mustard did you use for the garlic cream sauce? Thanks!
Adina says
Hi Gabriella. Thank you so much. The most common mustard, not hot, not sweet. Dijon is nice as well, but it's slightly spicier. If you like garlic, you will love this sauce, it's addictive.
mjskitchen says
When I saw a whole bulb of garlic I was immediately hooked! "Less" - no way. 🙂 Wish I had a bowl of this sitting in front of me right now with a ag of chips. Thanks for sharing Adina.
Daniela Anderson says
Arata foarte bine! Si mie imi place mult usturoiul, niciodata nu imi lipseste din casa, cred ca adaug mai mult sau mai putin cam la toate felurile de mancare.