Plăcintă is a type of Romanian fried pastry filled with various sweet or savory fillings. The most common fillings are cheese, potato, or apple.
The word “plăcintă” comes from the Latin word “placenta,” which means pie, or from the Greek word “plakount” – flat cake. This recipe has its origins in ancient Rome, dating back to when Romania was part of the Roman Empire. I wouldn’t call this dish a pie, but rather a stuffed flatbread. The dish can be fried in a pan, but when there is a thicker layer of filling, it is more commonly prepared in the oven.
In addition to the three fillings mentioned above, you can also find plăcintă filled with ricotta and dill, spinach with cheese, or chocolate. One version of the dish filled with cheese, cream, and cottage cheese called plăcintă dobrogeană even boasts a protected designation of origin.
In the small town of Oradea, I came across a place that specialized only in this dish. In a room accessible directly from the street, a woman was frying this Romanian delicacy. A potato-filled plăcintă cost 2.5 RON, which is about 0.50 EUR. The cabbage version and the cheese and dill-filled version were the same price. I enjoyed a plăcintă additionally spread with cream. It was great!
