What is "rantas"

Rântaș (Hungarian: rántás) is a Hungarian and Romanian sauce based on oil and fried flour. If chopped onions are added, the recipe is called rântaș de ceapa / fokhagymás-hagyma is onion, fokhagyma is garlic. This sauce is a component of certain ciorba and the sarmale.

In Hungary it is commonly used as a basis for different soups and purées ( főzelék), often with chopped onions and/or garlic and occasionally whole caraway seeds, especially for the soups called rántott leves and tojásleves ("egg soup"). Ground paprika may also be added, but only after the onions get translucent and the flour is already fried (i.e. light brown), because the paprika gets bitter if fried for a long time. A well known rule of thumb calls for mixing cold water into the hot rántás so the fried flour particles spread evenly.