Hungarian Gulyash Soup

Hello, and thank you, Karen, for the welcome and the introduction.
I am very happy to be the European guest blogger here, and I look forward to sharing recipes as well as thoughts on food and children related topics with you.

For my first entry, I have chosen a recipe for Hungarian Gulyash Soup. Hungarian friends gave this recipe to me, and it is absolutely delicious. Even my 8 month old son loved it!


Hungarian Gulyash Soup - 5-6 people
Gulyash soup is literally cow shepard (cowboy) soup. It was traditionally made over an open fire in big pots – and many Hungarians claim that it can only be made “just right” by men!!!

Ingredients:
300 grams of cubed beef
300 grams of cubed pork (not too lean)
6 carrots, sliced
6-9 potatoes (depending on size), cubed
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1 tomato, quartered
2 onions, chopped
1 tbsp of whole caraway seeds
6 tbs of sweet paprika (preferably the very red Hungarian type)
2 bay leaves
pepper to taste
salt to taste
csipetke (noodles, literally ”pinched off little things”) made from 2 eggs (recipe below)
oil for frying
water
1 loaf of white bread in very thick slices.

Procedure:
Heat 2-3 tbsp of oil in a big pot
Fry onions & garlic until onions are glossy – not browned
Fry meat until lighly browned
Add paprika and fry for a few minutes (the flavour of this particular spice is best brought out by fat, not water).
Add pepper
Add a cup of water (to almost cover meat)
Add bay leaves

What you have now made is called Pörkölt, a dish in itself if you let it cook for a while and serve it with rice, but also the base of many traditional Hungarian dishes.
From here, you go on to make (besides Gulyash Soup): Transsylvanian Cabbage (add sour cabbage and cook with rice) and filled pancakes (add sour crème, fill in pancakes and bake in oven).

Add quartered tomato
Add caraway seeds
Add carrots
Add water (until everything is covered - and maybe then some)
Let simmer while you prepare the csipetke
Add potatoes (maybe add more water)
Let simmer while you set the table
Add csipetke
Let simmer until csipetke, potatoes and carrots are cooked.

Serve steaming hot with a thick slice of white bread.

***

Csipetke

Ingredients:
1 egg/2 eggs depending on desired portion
wheat flour
pinch of salt

Procedure:
Mix flour and egg and salt until you have a fairly hard and non-sticky mass. Divide mass into easily handled pieces and coat in flour.
Using your thumb and index finger, pinch off (hence the name of the noodle) little pieces of dough. If sticky, coat in flour again.