Palacsinta (Hungarian pancake)

Dear Readers, 

After a really hard school year I needed to relax a bit, so I haven't been writing my blog for a while. For those of you, who looked for new recipes every week, I am sorry! But now I am back and I'll continue my blog. I was in the United States at my relatives for a couple of weeks, where I was surprised at the Hungarian ingredients they have there. I'm glad that you are able to find everything you need for the Hungarian specialities in most of the cases.

Just before I left to the airport I was invited to an amazing American style breakfast. What does American style mean? For me it consists of the traditional American pancake and monkey bread. Well, today's recipe was inspired by this breakfast. As most of you probably know the Hungarian pancake is very thin, and there is almost nothing in common with its American sibling. Here is the recipe for the Hungarian pancake, which is very easy to prepare: 

Ingredients (for 12 pieces)

15 dkg (5,3 oz/0,5 cup) flour (liszt)

1 egg (tojás)

3 dl (14,14 fl oz) milk (tej)

1 dl (0,4 fl oz) mineral water (szódavíz) 

a pinch salt (egy csipet só)

cooking oil (főzőolaj)

How to become a master of the Hungarian kitchen #15

In a big bowl put the half of the milk, a pinch of salt, flour, and the eggs. Now please mix them together. After this step, slowly add the mineral water to the ingredients and stir them until it doesn't become smooth. If you think that the mixture is not smooth enough, add more mineral water or milk to it. The next step is to warm a frying pan up and put a little cooking oil on the surface. Here is how we prepare our pancake at home:

As you can see the Hungarian pancake is very thin. You can put many things in the middle then roll the pancake. Jó étvágyat!

Notes from the writer:

Here are some tips what you can put in a Hungarian pancake: curd cheese with sugar and raisin, jelly, sliced banana or strawberry, even ice cream, etc. In my next blog post, I will write the traditional pancake from the Hortobágy, which contains meat and is a very filling meal. 

Lángos

Dear Readers,

Today's recipe was inspired by this nice weather we have in Hungary right now. Okay, it's not as warm as it should be but the sun reminds me of the summer which is coming. If summer then Lángos. If Lángos then beach and Lake Balaton. It is a typical Hungarian dish that we eat during summer time. It's very easy to prepare, so you won't need to go to the beach in order to taste this amazing food. Here comes the recipe:

Ingredients

50 dkg (17,64 oz) flour (liszt)  

3 dkg (1,06 oz) yeast (élesztő)

2 dl (6,77 fl oz) milk (tej)

2 tablespoon of cooking oil (olaj)

a pinch sugar (cukor)

1,5 dl (5,07 fl oz) water (víz)

salt (só)

How to become master of the Hungarian kitchen #14

Please chill the milk and the water a little bit. Put a pinch of sugar in a bowl and then add the crushed yeast to it with 1 dl (3,4 fl oz) milk. Cover the bowl with a lid and wait till the milk does not run up. 

Mix the flour with a little salt (add salt to taste) in a bowl. In the middle of the flour please create a little hole and then put the two tablespoon of cooking oil, the ran up yeast, 1 dl (3,4 gl oz) milk, and a smack of warmish water. Start to slowly mix up these ingredients and then add the warmish water to it bit by bit in order not to get thin pasta. When the pasta is meanly thin, put it into a big bowl, and leaven it for half an hour. Now, please smear a tray with a little cooking oil, then with oil on your hands tear 7-8 cm (2,76 - 3,15 inch) big pieces from the pasta and put them on the tray. Cover them with a kitchen-cloth and leaven it for a while. When your pieces are big enough, you can start baking them.

Put a little cooking oil in a frying pan, and then chill it. Please shape nice pieces (as big as you would like to) with oily hands and put them to the warm cooking oil. Bake both sides (they should have a nice brown color), then drip it. Serve it on a plate with a pinch of salt on the top; smear it with sour cream and then grate cheese on the top. Jó étvágyat!  

Notes from the writer:

In my opinion, lángos is the most tasty when you smear it with garlic, too. In Hungarian beaches, you can choose what flavoring you would like on you lángos. Attention: you can't stop eating it! :)

Tejfölös gombapaprikás (Mushroom with Sour Cream and Pepper)

Dear Readers,

Maybe you've recognized that I haven't posted our next recipe on Sunday which I usually do. The reason for this is that in Hungary we have the so called "school leaving ceremony" on the last weekend of April and I was invited to attend a ceremony. As we are Hungarians and we like to celebrate every special event with food, I was able to visit two different restaurants with very different dishes. Both of them were great, I have to say. Among others I ate lecsó which was put on chicken breast and tejölös gombapaprikás with pork. I thought that I'm going to share the recipe for the tejfölös gombapaprikás with you. Here we go:

Ingredients

50 dkg (17,64 oz) mushroom (gomba)

1 onion (hagyma)

cooking oil (főzőolaj)

ground red pepper  (pirospaprika por)

a half of a green pepper (zöldpaprika)

1 tomato (paradicsom)

0,5 dl (1,7 fl oz) sour cream (tejföl)

flour (liszt)

salt (só)

How to become master of the Hungarian kitchen # 13

First of all, cut the onion and the mushroom into pieces (it should be medium sized). Put 0,5 dl (1,7 fl oz) cooking oil in a pan and fry the onion. When the onion looks soft, add the mushroom and one coffee-spoon ground red pepper to it. Now add 0,5 dl (1,7 fl oz) water and a little salt. Cover the pan with a lid and stew the mushroom until it gets soft. If you feel that this step is ready then add 1 coffee-spoon flour and mix it with the mushroom. The next step is the sour cream (0,5dl - 1,7 fl oz), which you mix with the gravy. Our last, but not least, job is to add 1,5 dl (5,07 fl oz) water to the mushroom, but it depends on you how thick you like it to be. Boil the ingredients together while you are stirring the gravy. How do you now that your first tejfölös gombaparikás is ready? When the surface turns clear then you can start eating it. Jó étvágyat!

Notes from the writer

Most of the Hungarians I have met so far served this dish with noodles (see the recipe at Paprikás csirke), but it's also tasty with rice. It is important to notice that this dish can't be stored in a fridge for days, because it deteriorates very easily. 

Easter dishes (Part II) - Fonott kalács (Braided Bread)

Dear Readers,

Happy Easter to all of you! As I promised, here is the second recipe for the holiday. We prepare all kind of dishes today, but I chose one which can, in my opinion, be found in every Hungarian household when Easter comes: fonott kalács. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1 kg (2,2lb - 35,3oz) flour (liszt)

2 eggs (tojás)

5 dkg (1,77 oz) yeast (élesztő)

5 dkg (1,77 oz) sugar (cukor)

5 dl (17,64 oz) milk (tej)

5 dkg (1,77 oz) clarified/run butter (olvasztott vaj)

How to become master of the Hungarian kitchen #12

Our first step is to put the flour, the sugar, and the clarified butter in a bowl. Now, heat the milk for a while. Put the yeast in a bowl and with a tablespoon of sugar and a little heated milk dissolve it. Add two tablespoon flour and mix the ingredients together. If you like, you can put raisins in the braided bread to make it special. We let it rise for about 20-30 minutes.  After it is ready we add it to the flour  (that we prepared in the beginning). Now, start to mold it.

 It is important that the pasta has to be very soft. How do you when the pasta is ready? If you can see little bubbles on it and your pasta can be easily removed from your hand and the bow, it is ready. Please cover the dollop/pasta with a dish-towel and mold it for half an hour. Now, roll the pasta out and braid it (you can see it on the picture). If we are ready with the previous steps, butter a baking pan and put the pasta in it. Dub the braided brad with an egg's yolk. Our last step is to bake it for 40-45 minutes on 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius). Serve it for the ham instead of bread. Jó étvágyat!

Easter dishes (Part I) - Stefánia szelet

Easter is my favorite holiday. Really, it's better than Christmas, I think. I will show you two dishes for Easter. I will put the second recipe on my blog on Friday, because my mom will prepare it on that day. I hope you will try them. Stefánia szelet is the first Easter recipe. Here it is how to prepare it: 

Ingredients

80-90 dkg (1,77 lb-1,99 lb) ground pork (darált sertéshús)

7 eggs (tojás)

2 onions (hagyma)

4 cloves of garlic (fokhagyma)

ground pepper (pirospaprika por)

2-3 bread roll (zsemle) OR 3 slices of bread (kenyér)

water (víz) + milk (tej)

bread crumbs (zsemlemorzsa)

bors (pepper)

salt (só)

How to become master of the Hungarian kitchen #11

Put the ground pork in a bowl and salt it. Now mince the onions and the garlic and add them to the meat with a pinch pepper. Mix the ingredients together and let it set for a few minutes. Take a bowl and put half of the water and half of the milk in it. Cut the bread rolls or the bread and soak them in the water/milk. Now, squeeze out the liquid and mix it with the meat. Add an egg to the meat, taste it and if it is not salty enough, salt it. Look for a medium sized roast pan and grease it. Cut the mean in half and form two rolls. Please slice each rolls in half horizontally and then place 3 boiled eggs in the middle of each, then put the top slice of the loaf back on the eggs and seal the two parts of the meat a little bit. Oil the top of the meat rolls a bit and then scatter them with bread crumbs. In a preheated oven, on 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius), bake the rolls for about an hour until they get a nice brown color. Cut the rolls into slices. You can serve this dish with boiled potatoes, but it is popular to serve it as a cold dish and eat it without any garnish. Jó étvágyat!

Dödölle

This is a very cheap dish and I would say that it is special, because many Hungarians haven't heard about it. In the historical Hungary dödölle was a meal for the poor people, because they didn't need money to buy the ingredients for it; they could produce the potato and the onion for it. Dödölle has many names in Hungary: ganca,   krumpligánic, cinke, and gánic stand for the same dish in different parts of Hungary. Nagykanizsa is the "capital city" of dödölle where there is an annual festival in September called Bor-és Dödölle Fesztivál (Wine and Dödölle Festival). Visit this program if you have time! Here is the very easy recipe:

Ingredients

50 dkg (17,6 oz) potato (burgonya) 

25 dkg (0,55 lb-8,82 oz) flour (liszt)

1-2 onion (vöröshagyma)

2 dl (7 oz) sour cream (tejföl)

cooking oil (főzőolaj)

salt (só)

How to become master of the Hungarian kitchen #10

Cook the potatoes in salted water so it just covers the potatoes. When the potatoes are soft enough, mash them with a potato-masher. Stirring constantly, add flour to it (it shouldn’t be lumpy or clammy). Cut the onion(s) into little pieces and put it into a pan. Now fry it in cooking oil and add potato dollops with the help of a tablespoon. Brown it a little and then serve it with sour cream on the top. Jó étvágyat!

Vörösboros marhapörkölt (Red Wine Beef Stew)

Dear readers,

This week will be special. I will post four recipes in the next few days. Why? The answer is simple: I received many responses and I would like to please you. Also, I will show you two recipes for Easter, so you will be able to celebrate this holiday as a Hungarian. Our first dish is very popular among my friends, because my parents and I usually throw a barbecue party on my birthday every summer. Red Wine Beef Stew is one of the dishes we prepare and it is my dad's specialty. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

80 dkg (1,77 lb) beef (marhahús)

3 big onion (vöröshagyma)

4 cloves of garlic (fokhagyma)

4 tablespoon cooking oil (főzőolaj)

1,5 tablespoon sweet ground red pepper (pirospaprika por)

2 tomatoes (paradicsom) or 1,5 dl (5,07 fl oz) tomato juice (paradicsomlé)

2 pepper (paprika)

2 dl (6,77 fl oz) red wine (vörösbor)

salt (só), pepper (bors)

How to become master of the Hungarian kitchen #9

First, here is a tip from my dad: before you cook this meal, soak the meat in wine the day before you prepare it. Wash the beef and then dice it. Now, cut the onion into little pieces and fry it in the cooking oil. Take the saucepan off the stove in order not to burn the onion and scatter it with ground red pepper. Add the meat to the onion and put it back on the burner to continue the stewing. Cut the tomatoes and the peppers adding them to the meat bringing it to boil. Spice it with salt and pepper. Cover the saucepan with a lid and cook it (stew it) on stage 3. When all of the liquid has evaporated, add 1 dl (3,53oz) water to it. Cook the beef for an hour and then add the wine to it. The second tip from my dad: never add too much liquid to the meat, only a little because the secret of the red wine beef stew is that it needs to stew in thick liquid. The duration of the cooking lasts for about 2 hours, but it depends on the age of you beef. When the meat is tender, your meal is ready. The last step is to add the garlic to the meat with the use of a garlic press. You can serve it with bread, dödölle (see in my next post) or boiled potato. Jó étvágyat!