The famous Hungarian gulyás (a.k.a goulash)

Everyone loves the most his/her mum's gulyás soup but my mum's one is really amazing. When I go home with Mr. M, he always asks her to make gulyás for him and asks me also many times in Stockholm. I always follow mum's instructions related the cooking method so did I this weekend...

First of all we need to make it clear what is gulyás. There is a nice and very detailed introduction of gulyás on wikipedia if for some reason someone wouldn't know it.

Traditional Hungarian gulyás is a soup, not a stew as it's known almost everywhere around the world. What is known for instance in Austria or Germany as gulyás, is called pörkölt (means: "roasted") in Hungary which is stew with boneless meat (beef, lamb, chicken), onion and sweet paprika powder. Some vegetables such as tomato, bell pepper, garlic can be added as well.

A lot of different versions of gulyás exist such as
- hamisgulyás - fake goulash (vegetable and beef bones are added instead of beef meat)
- babgulyás - bean goulash (use kidney beans instead of potato)
- székelygulyás - goulash á la székely (reduce potato and add some sauerkraut and sour cream)
and many many other version you can taste while travelling at the different regions of Hungary as well.

First of all I feel called upon to introduce everyone the traditional Hungarian gulyás! So here you are!

Ingredients:

40 dkg beef cut into 2x2 cm cubes

1 medium-sized onion

1 green pepper

1 tomato

1 hot green pepper (optional)

2 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika powder

1-1 medium-sized carrot and white carrot (approx. 20-25 dkg)

30 dkg potato

1 coffeespoon cumin powder

1 tablespoon gulyás cream

pinch of balck pepper

1 small bay leaf

1,5 teaspoon salt (by taste)

For the galuska
1 small egg
2/3 cup flour
1/4 cup water
pinch of salt

1. Wash the meat and cut into 2x2 cm cubes. Peel and chop the onion. Wash the green pepper and tomato, cut the pepper into slices, peel the tomato then cut also into tiny cubes.

2. Heat the oil in a saucepan, sauté the onion for about 5-10 minutes till soft then add the beef cubes and stir till it whiten. The meat will ooze some water, liquid as well. Cook the meat for about 10 minutes in it as well then sprinkle with some paprika powder.

3. Add the pepper slices, tomato, salt, gulyás cream and some water which covers all the ingredients in the sauce pan. Cover and cook above medium heat till the meat is almost soften (min. 1 hour).

4. Meanwhile peel the carrots, cut into slices, cut the peeled potatos to small cubes. Wash the hot green pepper (only if you like hot), carefully cut its stalk then add all the vegetables and about 1,2 l extra water. Season with cumin and cook under cover.

5. While your soup cooks, prepare the small noodles (galuska) in it. Beat the eggs in a small bowl, add a pinch of salt, the flour and water, mix properly to form a smooth dough. About 10 minutes before the soup is ready, take a teaspoon of dough and put in the soup. It should just slip off the spoon. Keep spoon the dough till it runs out from your small bowl.

6. If it's needed you can season with some extra salt, pepper. Take care of the hot pepper. If it wants to go to pieces but you don't like the very hot, take it out on time. :)

You can serve it with hot pepper or paprika cream, Erős Pista or as it's known abroad Red Gold Hot.

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Best Tuscan tomato soup - inspired by Jamie Oliver

The season of fresh domestic tomato will end in Hungary soon (and when I will be in Stockholm, I won't have a chance to eat a delicious REAL tomato, which tastes as it should :)) therefore I wanted to prepare everyhow this warm (but it can be also served cold in summer) Tuscan tomato soup. The recipe is from Jamie Oliver. I changed it a little, for instance skipped the bread. 

Ingredients:
0,5 kg tomato
2-3 cloves of garlic
0,5 banch of fresh basil (approx. 10-12 bigger leaves)
0,5 l good quality tomato sauce
salt, pepper
olive oil

1. Peel the tomato, cut into slices and place in an oven-proof pan. Peel and cut into thin slices the garlic, wash and chop the basil leaves aslo and sprinkle all these on the tomatos and pour with olive oil.  In the preheated oven (180-200°C) steam for approx. 15 minutes so their falvours will be more intense and delicious.

2. When it's ready, put the tomato in a sauce pan, pour the tomato sauce with 1 dl water on it, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 5-10 minutes. Even Jamie hasn't written using blender but I did so the soup got more solid. If it's too thick for you, add some more water. 

On warm summer days, but especially on chilli autumun-winter evening it can be a perfect dinner.

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Asparagus soup

Yesterday I have found a half bunch of asparagus in the fridge so I decided I will cook creamy asparagus soup because this spring I haven't made it yet. And it's already summer. 

I wanted to make low fat soup therefore I replaced the cream with yoghurt and the butter with olive oil.

Ingredients (2 person):

500 g asparagus 

1 medium-sized onion

1 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoon olive oil

8 dl  vegetable stock

Salt, freshly ground pepper and nutmeg

1 cup of yoghurt

Wash, peel the asparagus, then cut them into 2-3 cm length pieces. Set aside some tips of them for later.

Get a large pan on the heat, add the olive oil. Gently fry the finely chooped onions, until soft without colouring. Add the asparagus, flour and simmer for a few minutes, then our the stock in the pan also. Cook for around 15-20 minutes or until the asparagus get soft.

Remove from the heat, mush the asparagus with a hand blender then pour it off through a strainer. Pour it back to the pan, spice the soup with the salt, pepper, nutmeg and put back on the heat. Add the yoghurt to the soup, bring back to the boil and simmer for a few more minutes.

Serve it warm or on hot summer days you can serve lukewarm. To serve, lay some tips of asparagus on the top of the soup.

Afiyet olsun!

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Turkish red lentil soup (Kırmızı mercimek çorbası)

The rich and varied Turkish cuisine which is beloved by many people around the world is mainly the heritage of Ottoman Empire's cuisine. Turkish kitchen influenced not only the neighbour countries' kitchen but the whole European one, one after the other.

Turkish cuisine varies all across the country but the soups play an important part everywhere every time, they have traditional importance. Before the popularisation of the typical Turkish breakfast, soup was the current morning meal for most households. 

Soups are as varied as the whole Turkish gastronomy. Soups can be light or rich, substantial and nourishing but a Turkish meal generally starts with it. They are usually named after their main ingredient. 

The most common and best loved is kırmızı mercimek çorbası (red lentil soup), but yayla çorbası (yoghurt soup), tarhana çorbası (tarhana consists of cracked wheat, yoghurt and vegetables - fermented then dried) are also very popular, and for instance one of M.'s and my favorite soup is domates çorbası (tomato soup).

I had eaten kırmızı mercimek çorbası in Turkey and Hungary many times but like everything else this soup is the best if it is home-made. As far as I remember in the history of my kitchen activity this was also my first Turkish dish I cooked at home. 

When I prepare a Turkish food, I always use nothing but Turkish people's authentic recipes, this time Hayriye's. 

Ingredients:
1 cup red lentil
1 medium size onion 
1 potato
1 carrot
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon mint
1 tablespoon crushed pepper
6-7 cups of water (you can add a cube of beef bouillon)

For the sauce: 
2 tablespoon butter (or olive oil)
1 tablespoon sweet or spicy paprika
A pinch of salt

Peel and chop the vegetables. 

Put the oil and chopped onion into a medium sized saucepan and sauté them at medium heat. When the onion is glassy, add the tomato paste, carrots, potatoes and sauté them with the onion for other 2-3 minutes.

Add the washed and drained red lentils, hot water (mixed with the cube of beef bouillon before) and mint to the vegetable mixture, then salt it and stir well. Cook until the carrots and potatoes soften. It takes approximately 10-15 minutes in medium-low heat then mix the soup thoroughly with a blender . If you find it too thick, you can add some more water.

For the sauce in a small frying pan place the butter and melt it over low heat. When it starts boiling and spitting, stir in the red pepper and salt. 

Serve the red lentil soup while still hot, pour the melted butter and pepper mixture over it. You can add some dry mint on top as well. Next to the plate you can serve some slice of lemon too and squeeze a little bit of lemon juice on top like Turks do.

Afiyet olsun!

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