FI_HU_AUS_Crashfusion kitchen

• Yesterday we made some cooking with friends to ease my Budapest longing and to open Hungarian culinary to the ones who haven't yet been so lucky to visit Hungary and taste the amazing food there.
  
  
  In Budapest I was lucky to get to know a Hungarian family where there was brilliant traditional Hungarian food made every day. While my visits with the family I got to taste some of it. The mother of the family wanted to show me some of the preparations. Their willing to share me some of their tradition and seeing something totally different from what I'm used to in kitchen was extremely moving and fascinating. Especially making dough out of potato, hiding fresh wild fruits into it and boiling the whole thing in water captivated me. I wanted to try to cook it by myself even though I am not the most skilled one when it comes to cooking. Luckily I found some incredible friends with whom I felt safe in kitchen. 
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  I attach you some of the recipes. The course of the dishes on our dinner was not the most traditional one. Sweet apricot balls and the warm meat dish lecso are supposed to be main dishes and the sweet soup supposed to be a starter. We had two main dishes instead of starter and a soup as a dessert. To remember Hungarians always eat soup as a starter no matter what. And not to forget sour cream is the most important addition to almost every part of the meal!
  
  
  
  
  Apricot Balls
  (huge portion, half of the dough left to make homemade Hungarian pasta, gnocchi that we were talking about, there's two kinds of recipes for that: without potato and more eggs or with potato like I did. Recipe for example: http://neocortext.blogspot.com/2008/03/hungarian-nockerli.html)
  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  Ingredients:
  • 1600 grams boiled old potato
  • 2 eggs
  • 500 grams flour
  • 200 grams margarine
  • 150 grams breadcrumbs
  • 1200 grams apricot or plums
  • sugar cubes
  • salt
  
  Making home made breadcrumbs:
  Toast the breadcrumbs in a pan until they become reddish brown. Put some margarine to it and mix them together.
  
  Making the dough
  Boil the potatoes. When they are still hot, take the skin down and mash it (like when you make mashed potatoes). Put the flour, the eggs, the margarine and some salt in it and at first with food-processor than with hand kned it together.
  
  Put one cube of sugar into all the apricots instead of the stones. Form bars of the potato and cut it into pieces with a knife. (This is how we make similar size of pasta pieces.) Cover each apricot with a piece of potato pasta. The cover does not have to be thick. When the potato pasta is very sticky, use some flour on your hand and the table.
  
  Boil water in a pot. Put 6-8 balls into the water. Cook the balls in boiling water until they come up to the surface.
  Roll the balls into the toasted breadcrumbs (~2 at a time, otherwise they will collapse). Serve it with cinnamonsugar sprinkled on it.
  
  
  
  Hungarian Sour Cherry Soup -With my style, Red and blackcurrants used instead of cherries
  Makes 6 servings
  
  Ingredients:
  
  • 6 cups water
  • 500g (fresh sour cherries, pitted) red and blackcurrants
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • (1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar) this one I didn't use
  
  Preparation:
  
  In a large saucepan, cook cherries with water and 3/4 cup sugar until done, about 10 minutes.
  
  Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix sour cream with flour, salt and confectioners' sugar until smooth.
  
  When cherries are done, temper the sour cream mixture with a few ladles of hot cherry liquid, whisking until smooth. Transfer to the pan with the cherries and whisk until smooth. Simmer 5 minutes, but do not boil.
  
  Cool to room temperature in an ice water bath. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the soup (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate until cold. Serve cold as a first course as they do in Hungary or as a dessert with a dollop of sour cream or whipped cream.
  
  Fusion of my friend's recipe and:
  http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/hungariansoups/r/tartcherry.htm
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And finally the Astro-Hungarian Main Dish Lecso!
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  Meanwhile I get the family recipe, you can check out this one:
  http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/hungarianv
  egetagbles/r/lecso.htm
  
  
  
  
  Great Thanks to Everybody. Food and company was excelent! Special thanks to Tanya!