6 traditional dishes popular around the Hungarian Carnival season

The Hungarian Carnival season is a holiday of celebrations, balls, and merriments, and, just like many other Hungarian holidays, there is no true celebration without delicious food.

In this article, we collected six recipes for you so you can make a full meal to celebrate the Hungarian Carnival season with us.

Soups

Legényfogó leves (Bachelor’s soup)

According to popular belief, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. It is no coincidence that this soup is named accordingly. There is everything in this soup a man or a person after a party in the Carnival season would need.

Ingredients

• 40 dkg chicken breast
• 30 dkg chicken liver
• 20 dkg green peas
• 20 dkg mushrooms
• 20 dkg mixed vegetables (carrot, celery, parsley root)
• 2 dl cooking cream
• 2 dl sour cream
• 2 heads of onion
• oil
• salt
• white pepper
• 2 dl chicken soup stock (or 2 dl water and instant chicken stock)
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

Cut the onions into small pieces and sear them until golden brown over a little oil, then add the cubed chicken breast into the pot. Clean and cut the vegetables into small pieces. Then, if the meat turns white, add the vegetables and the peas. Add salt and pepper.

Cover the pot and steam the meat and vegetables until half-done, then add in the cubed mushrooms. Add water and chicken stock to the pot.

When every ingredient is cooked soft, add in the liver you cut to the same size as your chicken breast pieces. Bring the soup to a boil and cook the liver for five minutes in the soup.

Mix the cooking cream and sour cream together until it becomes homogenous, then add it to the soup. Flavour the soup with a teaspoon of dried tarragon and bring it to a boil again. Once it reaches boiling point, take the pot off the heat. After a few minutes, mix in the lemon juice.

Enjoy.

Gombás korhelyleves (Hungarian korhely soup with mushrooms)

The essence of the korhelyleves, of course, is to soothe a hangover, reduce headaches, heartburn, and other symptoms of having had too much fun the previous night, and also to replenish your energy so that you can rinse and repeat.

Ingredients

• 25 dkg smoked meat
• 10 dkg smoked sausage
• 35-40 dkg sauerkraut
• 10-15 dkg mushroom
• 2 onions
• a bundle of parsley
• 5 dkg flour
• 2 dl sour cream
• 2-3 teaspoons of olive oil
• salt, pepper, paprika

Instructions

Dice the onions and glaze them in a bit of oil, then put the diced meat into the pot. Sprinkle it with paprika, mix it, and then add the sauerkraut. Add water so that it covers everything, then cover with a lid and cook over medium heat.

While the soup is on the stove, slice up the mushrooms and fry them in a little oil. Add it to the soup, season it, and bring to a boil. Make a light roux to thicken the soup. Slice the sausages, and when the soup is almost ready, add in the slices of sausage.

Season the soup with sour cream to your liking, or you can serve the sour cream on the side. You should be careful not to add too much salt as the smoked meat and sausage is already quite salty. Enjoy.

Main dishes

Májas hurka (Liver sausage)

Bloody food may sound barbarian at first. However, blood sausage and pan-fried pig’s blood are common winter dishes in the country. Hungarians usually start their day with a big plate packed with these delicacies on the days of the traditional pig slaughter.

Ingredients

For the broth:

• 5 l water
• 2 heads of onions
• 2 heads of garlic
• 5 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp whole black pepper
• 3 tbsp salt

For the sausage:

• 33 dkg (pork) organ meat (liver, heart, kidney, tongue, lungs)
• 33 dkg (pork) meat and skin (skin with fat, bacon or pig’s belly, regular meat)
• 8 dkg rice
• 25 g crushed marjoram
• 5 g paprika powder
• 5 g salt
• 4 g ground white pepper
• Intestine or artificial guts for the skin of the sausage
• 2.5 dl broth for cooking the rice

Instructions

To make the broth, wash and clean the onions and garlic and cut them in half. Add in all the ingredients for the broth and leave it to simmer.

Clean the organs and meat and cut them up into small pieces. Add them to the broth and boil them until soft. If you want to add skin, cut it up into small cubes and add it and the bacon to the broth.

Once done, take some of the broth and cook the rice in it (4 x broth to rice ratio) until it becomes really soft.

Take the meat out of the broth and grind it with a meat grinder. Mix in the cooked rice and spices. If needed, you can add some broth so that the mixture is not too dry.

Fill the mixture into the intestines or artificial sausage skin and form smaller sausages. Bring the broth to a rapid boil and put the sausages into it for short periods of time to make them harden.

Finally, add a bit of water to the cooking utensil you use and cook the hurka in an oven at 190 °C / 375 °F for fifteen minutes. Enjoy.