Tag Archives: Hungarian

Meat and Poultry

Hungarian Beef Goulash

Goulash is a rich, fragrant Eastern European stew that is excellent accompanied by homemade noodles, rice, dumplings, or potatoes.

Ingredients for Hungarian Beef Goulash

1 lb. stewing beef
2 T fat
2 sliced onions
1/2 tsp salt
1 T paprika
2 T flour
1 cup tomato puree
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation for Hungarian Beef Goulash

In a heavy skillet or pot, sauté the stewing beef in fat over medium heat until browned. Add the sliced onions and stir until translucent. Add the salt and paprika, stirring until the paprika releases its fragrance. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for one hour. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.

Stir in flour and brown lightly. Add the tomato puree  mixed with the beef broth. Simmer for one hour longer, or until meat is tender.

Remove from heat and add the sour cream, stirring until smooth and warm.

Serve with rice, noodles, potatoes, or dumplings.

Servings: 3

Hungarian beef goulash

Meatless Main Dishes

Hungarian Vegetable Marrow

Hungarian Vegetable Marrow (Tökfözelék)

Recipe from Az Inyesmester Szakacskonyve (The Expert’s Cookbook)

Ingredient for Hungarian Vegetable Marrow recipe

  • 5 lbs vegetable marrow
  • Salt
  • Vinegar
  • Lard or oil
  • Chopped dill
  • Paprika
  • Brown flour roué
  • Sour cream or buttermilk

Peel and grate vegetable marrow. Salt and sprinkle with vinegar. Let soak 1/2 hour. Squeeze out the moisture. Cook in a little lard or oil. Add chopped dill and a little paprika. When tender, prepare a browned flour roué and add to marrow. Cook until thickened. Add sour cream or buttermilk. Can add dill pickle juice for added flavor.

squash

A marrow is a vegetable, the mature fruit of certain Cucurbita pepo cultivars. The immature fruit of the same or similar cultivars is called courgette (in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand) or zucchini (in North America, Australia, Germany and Austria). Like courgettes, marrows are oblong, green squash, but marrows have a firm rind and a neutral flavour (“overgrown when picked and insipid when cooked…”), making them useful as edible casings for mincemeat and other stuffings.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first mention of vegetable marrows dates to 1822, zucchini to 1929, and courgettes to 1931. Before the introduction of Cucurbita species from the New World, marrow signified the immature, edible fruits of Lagenaria, a cucurbit gourd of African origin widely grown since Antiquity for eating when immature and for drying as watertight receptacles when grown to maturity.

Marrow (vegetable). (2016, December 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:11, December 12, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marrow_(vegetable)&oldid=754357847

Vegetables and Salads

Hungarian Stuffed Potatoes

Hungarian Stuffed Potatoes (Töltött burgonya)

Recipe from Az Ìnyesmester Szakácskônyve (The Expert’s Cookbook)

Ingredients for Hungarian Stuffed Potatoes

  • 12-14 large potatoes
  • 3-4 oz. ground bacon
  • Salt
  • 4 oz. grated cheese
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Butter

Bake the potatoes. Cut in half and scoop out the pulp. Mix the potato pulp with the ground bacon. Season with salt and add grated cheese. Stuff the potatoes with this mixture.

Sprinkle with crumbs, dot with butter, and bake in a hot oven until golden.

Breads and Pancakes

Hungarian Beigli

Walnut and Poppy Seed rolls — Diós és Mákos kalács (bejgli)

At Christmas time we’d travel to visit Grandma and Grandpa and as soon as we walked into the front door of their house we would be overwhelmed by the mingling of smells coming out of the kitchen. Every surface available from the entryway down to the basement would have pans covered with clean cloths that would be hiding cookies, hoska, and other sweet breads,  and our favorite walnut and poppy seed rolls.

House on a mountain
House on a Mountain–Julian

For the dough:

  • 750 g/1 lb. 7 oz. Flour
  • 350 g/12 oz. Butter
  • 30 g/1 oz. Sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 150 ml/ 5 fl. oz. Milk
  • 15 g/half oz. yeast

Fr the walnut filling

  • 80 g/3 oz. Honey
  • 120-130 g/ 4 and half oz. Sugar
  • 250 g/9 oz. ground walnuts
  • 50 g/2 oz. finely chopped sultanas
  • 1 T of rum
  • cinnamon
  • grated lemon peel

For the poppy seed filling

  • 80 g/3 oz. Honey
  • 125 g/ 4 and half oz. Sugar
  • 250 g/9 oz. ground poppy seeds
  • 1 T of rum
  • grated lemon peel

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter, add the sugar and the egg yolks and mix in the yeast in lukewarm milk. Blend well together and knead. Put aside to rest in a cold place for few hours. Then roll into rectangle and cut into strips. Spread with the walnut and poppy seed filling. Roll up, brush with egg white and bake in a moderately hot oven until golden brown.

To make the walnut filling, dissolve the sugar and honey in a saucepan over heat. Add the walnut and cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat and mix in the sultanas and rum. Finally add the cinnamon and grated lemon peel to taste.

For the poppy seed filling, cook the honey, sugar and poppy seed in saucepan. Remove from heat and add the rum and lemon peel to taste.

Meat and Poultry

Veal Paprikash

A Hungarian veal stew seasoned with paprika, often served with dumplings but can also be ladled over noodles, potatoes, or rice.

  • 1-1/2 lb veal, cubed
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 2 T paprika
  • 1 T salt
  • 1 large green pepper, cubed
  • 1 large tomato, chopped

For dumplings:

  • 1-1/2 cups flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Fry onion until golden. Add paprika, stir to release aroma and then add a little water. Cook until the water has boiled off, add the meat and salt, cover, and cook over a low flame, stirring often. As the liquid boils off, continue to add a little water at a time, allowing the meat to brown and a thick gravy to form.

When the meat is almost tender, add the tomato and the green pepper. Continue simmering until the meat is tender.

For the dumplings, mix the flour with salt and egg and add just enough water to form a stiff dough. Pinch out small pieces of dough and leave in a floured bowl. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and throw in the dumplings. Cook for about 10 minutes. Drain and serve hot with the veal.

Serves 4 to 6

Vegetables and Salads

Potato Paprikash (Paprikás Borgonya)

Paprika is sweet and/or pungent dried red pepper and a staple in the Hungarian kitchen. Paprikash is made by stewing your ingredients in a thick, paprika-based gravy-like base.

paprika red pepper

Recipe from Az Ìnyesmester Szakácskônyve (The Expert’s Cookbook)

Ingredients for Potato Paprikash

  • 1-1/2 kilos (3-1/4 lbs) potatoes
  • 4 oz bacon or 3 oz lard
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 or 3 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, sliced
  • 1 t paprika
  • Salt and pepper to taste

In frying pan, cook bacon or lard, add finely chopped onion, and brown till golden. Add chopped tomatoes, green pepper rings, and paprika. Cook until pepper is well wilted.

Peel and quarter the potatoes. Add the bacon/tomato/pepper mixture, barely cover with water, and simmer until tender and liquid is reduced to a thick gravy. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


Noodles and Dumplings

Cabbage Noodles

Hungarian Cabbage Noodles

  • 1 head white cabbage, finely grated
  • Oil or lard*
  • Salt (lots)
  • Pepper (lots)
  • 1 lb. bow or spiral noodles

CEJXJEHPlace grated cabbage in a large bowl and sprinkle liberally with salt. Allow to sit for an hour or two. Squeeze out excess water.

In large, heavy frying pan, heat oil and add cabbage. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until cabbage is well browned, adding more oil as needed. Some people sprinkle on a teaspoon or so of sugar to help brown the cabbage without actually sweetening it. Season with extra salt and pepper to taste.

Cook noodles, toss together with cabbage and serve in liberal quantities.

Many recipes for Hungarian Cabbage and Noodles also call for a small, finely chopped onion to be fried with the cabbage. I haven’t tried that version but I have added one small, crushed garlic clove and just a pinch of crushed, dried basil just before tossing the cabbage together with the noodles, and it’s one of my favorite taste treats.

* The recipe calls for lots of lard or oil, and the cabbage seems to sop up whatever grease you throw at it. However, I have several times used only the minimum of oil (avocado oil or any other mild, unrefined vegetable oil will work) to keep the cabbage from sticking and burning, and it has come out fine, albeit drier than the traditional version. I’ve used grated cabbage and coarsely shredded cabbage, and the coarser cabbage tends to hold the moisture better. I’ve even used the dry cabbage pulp left over from making cabbage juice in my masticating juicer. It works, too, although, since the pulp is super fine, it is also much drier.

Soups and Stews

Hungarian Sauerkraut Soup

Loretta’s recipe.

  • 1 Ib. sauerkraut, washed
  • 1 Ib. ham hock or knackwurst
  • 1/2 tsp. peppercorns
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 4 T mushrooms, dried
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 T flour
  • 1 t paprika
  • 1/2 t caraway
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 lb. chorizo or kielbasa
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • salt and vinegar to taste

Simmer sauerkraut, ham hock, peppercorns, bay leaf and mushrooms in water, covered, for 1 hour. Fry onion, stir in flour and cook 2 minutes without letting brown.

Take off heat. Add paprika, caraway. Return to heat. Mix with a little broth and then add to soup, Add chorizo and cook 15 minutes. Skim fat off. Add sour cream, salt and vinegar to taste.

Radishes by M. Angel Guerrero Garro
Radishes by M. Angel Guerrero Garro