In 2019, we broadened our horizons a bit with more delicious recipes. We also branched out to include more resources. If you grew up with Hungarian food and you no longer have the cook to teach you and you don’t have the recipes either, you know what a challenge it is to replicate a taste, particularly if you are just finding your way around the kitchen. That is why experimenting with a variety of recipes is a good idea.
January 2019 — Meat Soup with Chicken – Húsleves Everyone should know how to make a clear broth soup! It takes a lot of time and patience but it smells amazing and is so good for you!
February 2019 — Make Farmer’s Cheese — Túró So you don’t ever have to be sad you don’t have it where you live!
February Bonus Resource — Bacon/Farmer’s Cheese/Sour Cream Noodles –Túrós Csusza This is one of the first dishes we were served by our relatives in Hungary. They wanted to be sure we knew about Hungarian staple meals and they were surprised to find out it was one of our favorites!
March 2019 — Layered Sauerkraut — Kolozsvári Káposzta If I am looking for comfort food, this is one of my top choices! The combination of flavors is amazing!
April 2019 — Kifli — Hókifli There is so much debate and controversy around the name of this dessert. I have seen kiffles, papucs (the word for slipper in Hungarian), Hungarian cookie, you name it. Some of the debate is based on the shape. Apparently, if it is curved, you can call it a kifli but you better add in the hó (for snow–because they have powdered sugar in them!)
April Bonus Resource — Make your own lekvar! A few years ago, I learned that lekvar referred to a consistency rather than a flavor. I always, always, always thought it meant prune.
May 2019 — Fried Bread Dough — Lángos This is a very popular snack in Hungary but can be created to be a full meal. I really prefer the mini version because, well, because I don’t like when they are so big you can’t finish it!
May alternate — Baked Bread Dough — Langalló This is the closest to pizza. It is baked in the oven and can have a wide variety of toppings! Essentially, these two recipes are nearly the same thing but one is baked and the other is fried!
June 2019 — Eggplant Spread In honor of my trip to Transylvania, we made one of my most favorite dishes! My mom made this often and it is pretty amazing. It is possibly my most favorite of all things Hungarian. Our next tour to that region will be in the Fall of 2021! Message me at [email protected] of you want to know the details when they are available!
July 2019 — Floating Islands — Madar Tej This is a very popular and light dessert in Hungary!
August 2019 — Lecsó We took advantage of what is in the garden and farmer’s markets and made this delicious dish. Just make sure you are using Hungarian peppers that are mild! The original lecso is vegetarian, gluten, and dairy free! I love it over rice. Add kolbász or an egg and you can have a full meal!
September 2019 — Tökfőzelék This is an amazing and simple side dish but you can add a little meat and it can serve as a simple lunch!
October 2019 — Hungarian Mushroom Soup — I know there are some mushroom haters out there so I did allow for an alternate recipe, see below.
October alternate — Hungarian Wax Bean Soup While this recipe is good, it isn’t the best I have had. I will keep looking and experimenting!
November 2019 — Golden Pull Apart Cake — Aranygaluska My cousin made this for me when I was visiting on time. I don’t recall having it while growing up but it is delightful with coffee or tea!
December 2019 — Strudel — Rétes Making a strudel dough can be intimidating but what better place to try it than in a challenge? There are a lot of great fillings to try: apple, cherry, poppyseed, walnut, cheese (with or without raisins) or even cabbage! You are an amazing student if you tackled the dough, but even using phyllo dough or puffed pastry dough (found in the freezer section) can be enough of a challenge!
We hope you enjoy this collection of recipes and keep cooking Hungarian food!
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