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QUICK HUNGARIAN RECIPES for the Single Hun:
Pasta

* Szilvásgombóc

Cook some potatoes with the skin on. When it is cooked, peel the skin off. (Don’t burn your fingers!) Mash the potatoes, add flour and a whole egg. Work it together and separate into fist-sized lumps. Roll it on a wooden board to the thickness of about 1/4’’. Don’t forget to flour the board and the rolling pin otherwise the dough will stick to it. Cut the dough into ~2-3’’ squares, place 1/2 of (pitted) plums in the middle of each. Mix sugar cinnamon together and season the plum with it. Then fold the tips of the square over the plum to cover it and form a little ball. The balls are dropped into boiling water and should be boiled till they surface. Then fish them out with a sieve. Mix bread-crumbs and butter in a pan, and roll those fine ‘Gomboces’ around to cover them with the crumbs. However, you may skip the whole crumbling procedure altogether, and you can eat them fryed, “naked”.
* Cheese noodles (savoury)

8 oz. noodles, 1 oz. butter, 6-8 oz. grated gruyere, and 1 oz. oil

Cook the noodles in salt water and drain. Mix with the fat and put layers of the cooked noodles, alternating with layers of grated cheese, into a heated dish. Finish off with a layer of cheese and pour hot butter on the dish before serving.
* Turoscsusza (Savoury curd noodles)

The original Hungarian pasta for this recipe is torn by hand into uneven halfpenny size pieces. One can either use noodles for this recipe or large egg macaroni bows.

8 oz. pasta
6 oz. fresh curd pint sour cream
2 oz. streaky bacon, 1 tablespoon bacon fat, and salt

Boil the pasta in salted water , till tender, drain, and toss in the hot bacon fat. Mix with it half of the slightly salted and crumbled curd. Heap the pasta and curd on a heated serving dish and put the rest of the curd on top. Fry the chopped bacon crisp, pour it on the pasta, sprinkle with sour cream all over. Place into warm oven for a few minutes before serving.
* Noodles with walnuts (sweet)

8 oz. noodles, 4 oz. sugar, 5-6 oz. ground walnuts, l oz. fat or oil, pinch of salt. Cook the noodles in boiling salted water till tender, then drain. Add the melted fat, and the walnuts mixed with sugar. Serve hot with a generous sprinkling of walnuts and sugar on top.
* Sweet noodles

8 oz. noodles
4 tablespoons apricot jam
4 oz. ground walnuts
2 oz. sugar, 1 oz. butter
1-2 tablespoons bread crumbs

Cook the noodles according to the directions on the packet and drain them well. Butter a round and deep oven proof dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Put layers of noodles, jam, noodles, ground walnuts mixed with sugar, into the dish, starting and finishing with noodles. Place into moderate oven for 225 minutes, turn out and serve hot.
* Poppy seed noodles (sweet)

8 oz. noodles, 2 tablespoons oil
4 oz. ground poppy seeds, and 4 oz. sugar

Cook the noodles according to instructions on the packet and drain. Mix with the melted oil. Stir the sugar and poppy-seeds together and sprinkle this mixture on to the hot noodles and eat it yourself quickly before I grab it from you - I love it!
* Cabbage squares

Do not let the very common name of ‘cabbage’ put you off! Cabbage square is the most unusual Hungarian savoury pasta, a gorgeously filling and rich concoction. After the first mouthful, this unusual dish will be accepted and loved by all nationalities.

8 oz. egg macaroni bows
1 small hard white cabbage
2 tablespoons lard, 2 lumps sugar, salt, and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the macaroni bows in salted water, drain, and mix it with a little fat. In the meantime, prepare the cabbage the following way. Grate the cabbage finely, put it in a bowl with some salt, let it stand for 30 minutes, then squeeze all the water out of it. Heat the rest of the fat in a heavy saucepan, add the lumps of sugar, cabbage, and pepper. Turn the heat down and stir the cabbage into the hot fat until it becomes golden brown. The sugar will give it a better colour. Mix the cooked cabbage with the hot cooked pasta, and serve hot.
* Galushka (Dumplings)

This galushka is the traditional accompaniment to paprikash chicken, or veal paprikash. It is the most typical of Hungarian pastas. You can serve it instead of potatoes, with almost everything which has a rich gravy. It is very easy to prepare and very economical.

8 oz. flour, 1 egg, 1 oz. oil, 1 pint water
1 tablespoon bacon fat for serving, and salt

Beat the 1 oz. heated oil with the egg. Dilute with water and sprinkle the sieved flour into this. Mix quickly and lightly with a wooden spoon and let it stand for 1 hour. Half fill a large saucepan with salted water and bring it to the boil. Put a portion of the rather runny batter on a wooden board. Cut and slide small portions into the boiling water. Cook until they rise to the top and lose their raw floury appearance. Take the cooked galuska out of the water with a perforated spoon, rinse in warm water and mix them with the heated bacon fat poured over the galushka, aside the meat-dish.

Dough

* Basic yeast dough

2 lb. plain flour, 1 oz. fresh yeast, 1 pint milk
4 tablespoons sugar
4 oz. margarine, 2 egg yolks, and a pinch of salt

Crumble the yeast into a large mixing bowl with a teaspoon of sugar and mix into it 2 tablespoons of the flour. Add 1 tablespoon of warm but not hot milk. Blend well and cover the bowl with a cloth. Let this stand in a warm place for 115 minutes or until the yeast mixture shows bubbles on the surface. Warm the rest of the milk and melt the margarine in this. Now add the rest of the flour, egg yolks, sugar and the milk mixture. The milk and margarine should be at blood heat when you add it to the mixture. Knead this dough hard with your hand in the bowl till it is smooth and bubbly and comes away from the bowl. Sprinkle it with flour, leaving it in the bowl, cover the bowl with a cloth and leave in a warm place, sheltered from the draught, till the dough rises to 2 or 3 times its original size. The time varies according to the temperature. There are only two things that yeast dough heartily dislike. One is direct heat, and the other is cold surroundings or draughts. This is the basic yeast dough which you can use up in the following recipes.
* Kuglofe with chocolate filling

Kuglof is a brioche-like coffee bread which used to be the main symbol of an Austro-Hungarian coffee party.

Basic yeast dough (see above)
Filling: 4 tablespoons cocoa, 6 tablespoons castor sugar, 2 tablespoons sultanas, 2 oz. unsalted butter or margarine

The basic yeast dough will be sufficient for 2 round cakes. The original Kuglof is made in a fluted round mould which has a centre part around which you wrap the pastry. When the Kuglof is turned out after baking, it has a hole in the middle. Make the yeast dough and let it rise till double its size. Now cut it into two pieces and roll out each piece to inch thickness on a floured board. Mix the cocoa and sugar together, sprinkle the pastry with it, add the sultanas and few dabs of butter. Roll them up and place the rolls in the warm buttered shapes. Squeeze the ends together well to form a ring in the shape. Cover with a clean cloth and let the rings rise in a warm place till the moulds are two-thirds full. Bake in moderately hot oven for 30 minutes or until the top is brown and well risen. Turn out and sprinkle with a little icing sugar. Serve when cold with coffee. Kuglof can be made satisfactorily in greased savarin.
* Doughnuts

Basic yeast dough, oil for frying, some castor sugar

Make the yeast dough the usual way and when it is well risen roll out to 1-inch thickness. Cut rounds of it with a biscuit cutter and fry these rounds in boiling hot deep fat with the lid on. Take the lid off, turn the doughnuts round and fry till a golden colour on the other side. Perfect doughnuts must have a thin white horizontal line round their waists according to good Hungarian cooks. Drain, sprinkle with sugar and eta them hot (I like’m much with jam)
* Golden galushka

Basic yeast dough.
4 tablespoons apricot jam, 4 oz. ground walnuts, 2 tablespoons sultanas,
2 tablespoons sugar

Roll out the risen yeast dough to 1 inch thickness and cut rounds of it with a biscuit cutter. Butter a round and deep oven proof dish and put alternate layers of dough, apricot jam, sugar, nuts and sultanas into it, finishing off with dough. Keep in a warm place covered with a cloth for about l hour or till it rises to double its size. Bake in moderately hot oven for about 30 minutes or till you see that the bottom is cooked through. Turn out and serve hot.
* Darazsfeszek

Basic yeast dough

Filling: 4 oz. unsalted butter, 4 tablespoons sultanas, 4 oz. castor sugar

2 oz. walnuts or almonds, chopped finely
1 tablespoon sugared milk

Make the dough and let it rise, then roll it out on a floured board two-inch thickness. Cream the butter with the sugar, beat into it the sultanas and the chopped nuts. Spread this mixture evenly on the dough and roll up the dough like a Swiss roll. Slice this roll into 1-inch slices and place these slices, well spaced, in a buttered baking tin. Cover with a cloth and keep in a warm place for an hour. Bake in hot oven, sprinkled with the sugared milk, for 25-30 minutes. Serve hot or cold.
* Toportyus pogacsa

In luke warm milk, melt 1 cube sugar, 20 gram fresh yeast.

Knead with 350 gram flour, 200 gram ground toportyu (cracklings), 2 egg yolk, little salt, ground pepper and 150 ml (milliliter) sour cream.
Knead well and at the end mix in 1 table spoon of oil.
Have the dough sitting for 1.5 hours rising in floured bowl covered with cloth.
Roll on table about 1 finger high, use dough cutter shaped round and cut.

In wax papered backing pan place ‘buns’ side by side, resting them for another 10 minutes.
Preheat oven under high temperature, bake it for 5 minutes, then gradually reduce heat...

Potatoes

* Roux (Thickener)

2 oz. lard
1 1/2 oz. flour

Heat lard in a saucepan, add the flour and fry over low heat to a light golden colour. This is the roux: to this you can add stock, water, salt, paprika or any flavouring. After adding liquid, bit by bit, stirring all the time you heat it again, bring it to the boil and stir it until it is very smooth. In most recipes the Hungarian cook will tell you whether she wants you to use a light coloured or a dark coloured roux. Therefore, if a white roux is required do not cook it for long, do not allow it to go brown or stick to the bottom of the pan. Stir it with a wooden spoon.
* Potatoes in piquant sauce

1 1/2 lb. cooked potatoes, 1/2 oz. lard, 1 oz. flour, 1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon wine vinegar, 1 bay leaf, 2 tablespoons cream, salt

Make a medium brown roux (see above) with the lard and flour. Take the saucepan off the heat, add the paprika and pint of cold water or stock little by little stirring well. Add the rest of the ingredients except the potatoes, and stirring constantly bring to the boil. Add the sliced potatoes and allow to simmer till the potatoes are heated through. Stir in the cream just before serving.
* Hungarian potatoes

1 1/2 lb. potatoes, 1 oz. lard or bacon fat, 1 oz. flour
1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 11 pints stock, salt and pepper

Fry the onion in the fat, stir in the flour and dilute with the stock. Cook the peeled and diced potatoes in this sauce till tender. Add the chopped parsley before serving.
* Cheesy potato puree

1 1/2 lb. potatoes,1 pint milk
2 oz. butter
2 tablespoons grated cheese, salt

Boil the potatoes in their skin. When tender, peel them and mash them. Put the butter and the milk in a saucepan, add the mashed potatoes and simmer till thick. Finally, mix in the grated cheese and stir well before serving. Add salt if required.
* Hungarian potato pure

6 or 8 medium sized potatoes, lard, 1 pint milk, 1 small onion

Peel the potatoes and dice them. Cook them in salt water, drain and mash. Melt the fat in a saucepan, add the finely chopped onion and fry till golden. Mix the mashed potatoes and fried onion together in the pan and slowly stir in the milk before serving.
* Potatoes in tomato sauce

1 can tomato juice, salt and sugar to taste

Prepare a brown roux with lard and flour, add the tomato juice, sugar and salt and bring to the boil. Add the diced cooked potatoes and let them simmer for 5-10 minutes before serving.
* Creamed potatoes

1 1/2 lb. potatoes, 1 oz. butter, 1 small onion, 2 oz. ham

1 teaspoon flour
2 tablespoons sour cream
salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes in their skin, peel and cut them into thick slices. Fry the finely chopped onion in butter, add the chopped ham and fry lightly. Pour on a little water and simmer for a few minutes. Beat the flour and the cream together and add to the ham and onion in the saucepan. Bring to the boil and stir till smooth. Add the potatoes to the sauce and heat through before serving.
* Potato baked

4 or 5 cooked potatoes, 2 oz. butter, 1 pint sour cream, 1 oz. grated cheese
1 tablespoon bread crumbs, salt and pepper

Mash the cooked potatoes, add the melted butter and the cream. Season according to taste. Butter a fairly shallow oven proof dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Press the mashed potatoes firmly into the dish, sprinkle with the grated cheese and dabs of butter. Bake in moderately hot oven for about 15 minutes till golden brown. Turn on to a hot serving dish.
* Potatoes with savoy cabbage

5 or 6 potatoes, 1 small savoy cabbage, 2 eggs,1 pint double cream, 1 oz. butter

Cook the potatoes in their skin, peel and slice them. Hard-boil the eggs. Cook the shredded savoy cabbage in salt water and drain well. Butter a deep oven proof dish and put alternate layers of sliced potatoes, sliced eggs and shredded savoy into it, finishing off with the savoy. Sprinkle each layer with melted fat, a little cream and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the top with the bread crumbs, put dots of butter on it and place in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes before serving.

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