Popular Hungarian dishes for New Year’s Eve – PHOTOS & RECIPES

Just like for every holiday, Hungarians have their distinct dishes for New Year’s Eve as well. Some of them are absolutely delicious, however, others are rather questionable. In this article, you can learn about the most typical New Year’s Eve dishes you can find in Hungary.

As our New Year’s Eve 2020 article shows, Hungarians can be highly superstitious beings. New Year’s Eve’s dishes and activities are no exception. Some dishes are eaten on 31 December and/or 1 January to keep away bad luck and attract wealth and health.

Now, let’s get to the actual dishes and how to make them!

1. Kaszinótojás francia salátával (Egg mayonnaise with creamy/French salad)

The egg is actually called casino egg in Hungary, and the creamy salad has many more names in other countries. Here is how you can make both the eggs and the salad. You can find the original recipe here by Hungarian Tidbits.

Ingredients (for 6-8 servings):

For the egg:

• 8 large eggs, hard-boiled

For the salad:

• 2 medium potatoes diced into ½ inch squares
• 3 medium carrots diced into ½ inch squares
• a good handful/1 cup of frozen peas
• 1-2 apples diced into ½ inch squares
• 2-3 pickled gherkins diced into ½ inch squares
• ½ white onion (finely chopped or grated)
• fresh parsley for decoration

For the dressing:

• 500 ml (2 cups) sour cream
• 250 ml (1 cup) mayonnaise
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1 tbsp French mustard
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

For the egg yolk filling:

• hard-boiled egg yolks
• 1 tsp grated onion
• 2 tbsp from the mayonnaise dressing you are using for the salad
• 1 tsp French mustard or English mustard (needs a bit less as it is stronger)
• salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Prepare the hard-boiled eggs. Place the eggs in cold water and cover them. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. You can forget about them for a few hours as they need to become completely cold.
2. Cook the potatoes and carrots for 2-3 minutes. Add the frozen peas and cook for another 3 minutes, until everything is well-cooked but not falling apart. Strain, then rinse with cold water and put aside to cool.
3. Chop the apple and gherkins, combine them with the now cold potatoes, carrots, and peas.
4. For the dressing: mix the sour cream, mustard, mayonnaise, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and pepper. Try it frequently until it tastes the way you like it.
5. Combine the chopped vegetables, apples, and gherkin with ¾ of the salad dressing you just prepared. Retain some so you can cover the eggs with it.
6. Carefully cut the eggs in half and place the yolks in a bowl. Now mash them with a fork, add some salt, pepper, 2 tbsp of the dressing, and 1 tbsp finely grated onion. Add a bit more mustard if you like.
7. Fill the boiled egg whites with the egg yolk mixture. Place them on top of the salad upside down and cover the egg halves with the rest of the cream.
8. Add some freshly chopped parsley as decoration if you like.
9. Put them into the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.

2. Tormakrémes sonkatekercs (Ham rolls with cream cheese and horseradish)

This light serving is the perfect appetiser before any dish. However, it is also a dish on its own (or with francia saláta!) in Hungary for New Year’s Eve. Here is how to make it (the original recipe belongs to Poomy Thomas from Allrecipes):