Food and Beverages in Hungary

Walnut kugelhopf (diós kuglóf)

2009-11-16T21:58:00.009+01:00

Ingredients:

3 egg

20 dkg sugar

1 pack vanilla sugar

10 dkg ground walnut

20 dkg flour

1 teaspoon backing powder

1,25 dkg sourcs cream

1,25 dkg butter

Prepare:

1. Mix the eggs with the sugar and the vanilla sugar, butter with the icing sugar, the vanilla sugar.

2. Add the ground walnut, the flour and the baking powder and mix well.

3. Mix the source cream with the lukewarm butter and add it to the mixture.

4. Butter and flour the Kugelhupf form.

5. Put the mass into the form.

6. Bake at 160 Celsius preheated oven for 45-50 minutes.

Bon Apetit!

Langalló

2009-09-22T22:59:00.013+02:00

Langalló is a local food speciality in Szenna, in Zselic Region.

The langalló is a kind of bread, similar like lángos (fried dough), but baked in furnace and served with sour cream.

Zsolt's Dödölle

2009-09-06T07:08:00.013+02:00

Dödölle is a traditional Hungarian food. A simple, quite heavy but to me very delicious food. Actually I didnt know that it was called dödölle. When I tried it for the first time here in the Buda Castle, I immediately recognised it by its taste that it was what my grandma used to cook during my childhood.

But she called it ganca. The way she served and prepared it was a bit different but the taste was more or less the same. What is dödölle or ganca? Basically it is potato. You cook the potato in salty water and then smash it. The smashed potato has to be mixed with flour. It was quite hard job for my grandma as she was close to 80. So any time I wanted to eat ganca, she made it only if I helped her with the flour mixture.

The ganca/dödölle tastes the best if after cooking, you continue with one more step by putting it back on the fire making it a bit 'fried' by browning it in the pan, with the help of a little oil too. Some cut it into little pieces (like on the photos here) while smashing together with the flour and preparing in the motion like this. My grandma handled it all together in a pot and baked it for a very short time, then shaping it as a thick pancake.

With a generous amount of fried onion and sour cream as its toppings and you got your lunch! I do not recommend it as a dinner unless you have worked 12 hours prior in the fields:)

This post was originally uploaded by Zsolt.

Cotton Candy

2009-07-26T08:33:00.008+02:00

Cotton candy (or "vattacukor" as we call it) is not a typical Hungarian food, and not healthy, but very popular in Hungary. To be honest I dont'like it, but my children and my husband like it vey much.

Cotton candy or candy floss is a form of spun sugar. Since it consists of mostly air, servings are large. Many people consider eating cotton candy part of the quintessential experience of a visit to a funfair or circus. But in Hungary you usually can find it in and any vendors on the beach and in the zoo, too.

Roasting Bacon

2009-07-25T22:36:00.017+02:00

Szalonnasütés ("SA-LOW-NA SHOO-TAYSH") means "roasting bacon" in Hungarian. It is a popular social activity in summer to roast szalonna with onion over an open fire. The melted fat is let to drip on bread, and it is eaten with the roasted or with raw onion.

It's not healthy, but delicious and lots of fun. Try it one day!

Uborkasaláta (Cucumber Salad)

2009-06-21T22:21:00.008+02:00

"Uborka" means cucumber and this salad simply consists of vinegar, water, sugar, salt, red paprika powder and smashed garlic added to the sliced cucumber. Of course I love to eat with lots of sour cream and Hungarian red paprika powder :)

Happy birthday to Vili!

2009-05-31T20:19:00.004+02:00

Sometimes I feel like he was born yesterday, and he is 7 years old today :)

The recipe of the cake is similar like my Hedgehog cake recipe, wich you may read here.

My little vegetable garden

2009-05-29T22:52:00.002+02:00

Strawberry season is here again!

2009-05-27T21:28:00.007+02:00

Tamara's birthday party

2009-05-16T21:34:00.011+02:00

I've surprised Tamara with a yogurt fruit cake.

You may read my fruit cake recipe here.

The cherry is ripened

2009-05-15T22:51:00.005+02:00

yes yes it's our cherry tree with the first ripened cherries

Happy birthday to Tamara

2009-05-13T21:43:00.004+02:00

Yesterday was her 5th birtday!

Paprikás krumpli

2009-05-06T22:52:00.014+02:00

"Paprikás krumpli" ("PA-PRE-KASH KRUME-PLEE") is a paprika-based potato stew with a lot of diced potatoes, onion, tomato, bell peppers, Hungarian red paprika powder and some bacon or sliced spicy sausage. It is very popular dish in Hungary, often eaten for lunch or dinner and often prepared in bogrács (like the famous Hungarian goulash).

You can find the recipe here.

Bon Apetit!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-11T22:03:00.007+02:00

I wish all of my readers a very happy and blessed Easter!

You may read my summary about the Hungarian Easter customs here.

Ps. I took these photos at the Travel Exhibition.

Lemon Kugelhopf (citromos kuglóf)

2009-03-29T08:46:00.023+02:00

A Gugelhupf or Kugelhupf is a southern German, Austrian, Swiss and Alsatian term for a type of cake. As with the Jewish dish kugel, the name "Gugelhupf" is related to the Middle High German word Kugel meaning "ball" or "globe". In Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia, it is called kuglof, in the Czech Republic it is called bábovka, and in Poland it is called babka. In Republic of Macedonia the cake is known as "куглоф".

A Kugelhopf is a typical sweet European breakfast bread, similar to some American yeasted coffee cakes, although a shade drier for dunking.

Source

Ingredients:

20 dkg butter

24 dkg icing sugar

1 pack vanilla sugar

4 egg

24 dkg flour

1 teaspoon backing powder

juice of a half lemon

grated lemon peel

Ingredients for the glaze:

12 dkg icing sugar

lemon juice

Prepare:

1. Mix the butter with the icing sugar, the vanilla sugar, the lemon's juice and the grated lemon peel. Add the eggs and mix well.

2. Finally add the flour and the baking powder and mix well.

3. Butter and flour the Kugelhupf form.

4. Put the mass into the form.

5. Bake at 160 Celsius preheated oven for one hour.

6. When the cake is cold prepare the glaze: mix well the 12 dkg icing sugar with the lemon juice.

7. Finally decorate the Kugelhupf with the glaze.

Travel Exhibition

2009-03-01T17:07:00.028+01:00

On Friday I was on some official business at the Travel Exhibition. I have to participate in this event every year and the gastronomic part, which I always enjoy the most. Here is my photo report, enjoy!

Off topic - someone has stolen my car

2009-02-18T12:56:00.003+01:00

On February 17 someone stole our car (the one on the picture) sometime between 8:30 am and 9:30 pm. It parked near the Határ út subway station (Budapest, Hungary), between the Hotel IBIS and the flat house. It is a Suzuki Ignis, silver metal painting, license plate number JIF-475. There were two safety seat for children in the car. Contact me if you know something about the stolen car!

Muffin with chocolate and banana

2009-01-31T23:02:00.008+01:00

Muffin isn't a typical Hungarian specialty, but nowadays it's a very popular easily prep-able dessert in Hungary.

Ingredients:

2 egg, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, broken chocolate, 1/2 deciliter milk, 2 banana

Prepare:

1. Mix the ingredients (except banana and broken chocolate)

2. Finally carefully add the broken chocolate and the sliced bananas

3. Bake at 200 Celsius preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

Happy birthday to Vitya!

2009-01-25T10:54:00.033+01:00

My husband, Vitya celebrated his 34th birthday yesterday. For this occasion I've surprised him with this wonderful and delicious "double decker" cake. :) (baked by me : ) He liked it, hope you like it too!

The recipe is very simple!

Ingredients:

8 egg

400 g flour

50o g sugar

8 tbs hot water

juice of a half lemon

1 tsp baking powder

vanilla pudding

500 g mascarpone cheese

icing sugar(to taste)

1 little pack frozen red fruits (strawberry, raspberry, etc.)

Prepare:

I. Bake the cake layers:

1. Mix yolks with sugar, add the 8 tbs water and mix.

2. Add the lemon juice, the flour and the baking powder and mix well.

3. Add the whipped white of eggs. Then put the mass into two different size cake forms.

4. Both of them bake at 180 Celsius preheated oven, for 25-30 minutes.

II. Create the creams:

1. Prepare vanilla pudding.

2. Defrost the fruits and liquidize and mix with the mascarpone cheese to create a smooth cream. (If necessary evaporate with little instant vanilla pudding) and add icing sugar to taste.

III. Create and decorate the cake!

1. If the first cake is lukewarm, cut half the cake, smear the layers with vanilla cream (or vanilla pudding) and sprinkle with almond shavings on the top.

2. If the second and smaller cake is also lukewarm cut half and smear the layers with the mascarpone-fruits cream and decorate on the top.

3. Assemble the whole cake and decorate with fruits.

Bon Apetit!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-22T16:39:00.009+01:00

I know I'm late, but I wish all of my readers a happy new year!

Thanks for your visiting and I hope all of you will keep reading my blog this year :)

And now I would like to share with you my New Year's Eve recommendation (yes I know I'm late, but I hope you don't want to wait until next New Year's Eve to try my "virslis hasé" recipie :)

1. Let frozen puff (flaky ? ) pastry defrost for about 2 hours before you roll it out.

2. Roll it out the pastry and smear with ketchup or mustard.

3. Cut little rectangles and stuff with virsli (Vienna sausage) pieces and roll up.

4. The top smear with yolk of egg and sprinkle with ground cheese.

5. Use greaseproof paper and place the "hasé" forms into the tin.

6. Bake at 200 Celsius preheated oven, for 10-15 minutes.

Bon Apetit!

Sunny cake

2008-12-29T19:03:00.008+01:00

I baked this sunny cake with vanilla cream for my daughter’s name day. Yes, today is 29th of December and day of Tamra in Hungary.

Tamara, happy name day to you! :)

The recipe is similar like my Hedgehog cake recipe. Just let free your imagination and be creative!

Karácsonyi mákos lepény

2008-12-24T09:18:00.016+01:00

My poppy seed cakes for Christmas:

Ingredients:

3 egg

20 dkg flour

20 dkg sugar

1/4 liter milk

15 dkg ground poppy seeds

Prepare:

1. Mix the eggs with sugar and the milk.

2. Add and the poppy seeds, the flour and the baking powder and mix well.

3. Finally put the whole mass into the pan and bake at 180 Celsius preheated oven, for 20-25 minutes.

4. After baking create forms.

I wish all of you Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas to Vera and Panni (my sister and her daughter), written by my six and half years old son :)

Getting ready for Xmas

2008-12-18T21:20:00.011+01:00

Yesterday we baked the first gingerbread portions to the kindergarten and to the school. :)

My gingerbread recipe you can read here.

Onion soup

2008-12-03T22:33:00.020+01:00

I got cold and flu, hence I wanted to cook something simple, easily prep-able, but healthy meal. So I prepared onion soup and in spite of the fact that it was my first onion soup attempt it was very delicious. I'm sure this soup I will cook again and again and again... and the flu is not necessary for it :)

Well, let's see the ingredients:

3 piece of onions, 1 cloves of garlic, bouillon cube, 4 dkg butter or olive oil, 2 tbs flour, pepper, salt and ground nutmeg (to taste), 10 dkg ground cheese, parsley, toast cubes

Prepare:

1. Heat the olive oil (or the butter) in a large pot over medium-high flame. Add thinly slice onions and sauté until translucent. Add the flour.

2. Add water and the bouillon cube and add the smashed garlic and the spices and let it simmer on low heat until the onion is cooked.

3. Serve with ground cheese, fresh parsley and with toast cubes !

Bon Apetit!

Strudel and "Rétes Büfé" at Normafa

2008-11-22T08:27:00.028+01:00

A strudel is a type of sweet layered pastry with filling inside, that became well known and gained popularity in the Habsburg Empire.

The word itself derives from the German word Strudel, which literally means "eddy" or "whirlpool". It is most often associated with Austrian cuisine, but is also a traditional pastry in the whole area formerly belonging to the Austro-Hungarian empire (for example, in Hungary it is known as Rétes, in Slovenia as štrudelj, in Czech Republic as závin or štrúdl, in Romania as ştrudel, in Croatia as štrudla).

The best-known kinds are apple strudel and cottage cheese strudel (with sweet cottage cheese, my personal fave :)). Other strudels types include sour cherry and poppy seed strudel or raisins. There are also savory strudels incorporating spinach, cabbage and sauerkraut. Strudel pastry is very elastic. It is made from flour with a high gluten content, little fat (butter) and no sugar. The pastry is rolled out and stretched very thinly.

Pertaining to anecdotes, purists say, it should be so thin that a newspaper can be read through it. A legend has it that the Austrian Emperor's cook decreed that it should be possible to read a love letter through it. The pastry is laid out on a tea towel and the filling is spread on it. Then it is rolled up carefully with the help of the towel and baked in the oven.

It probably has its origins in Byzantine Empire or Middle Eastern pastries (see baklava and Turkish cuisine), and is related to the Balkan. It is very popular in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as other ex-Yugoslav republics.

Source: wikipedia

Normafa is a popular place for excursions in Budapest located in the XII. district and in winter its a perfect place for skiing, sledging and snowboarding with great view to the city. There are few buffets (American hot-dog, mulled wine, hot tea, some grocery stores).

And there is my favorite small wooden shade hiding behind the ski-buffet building, it's called "Rétes Büfé" (Strudel Buffet) and you can find there the most delicious strudel, what I've ever eaten it. :)