Hungarian New Year’s foods for good luck – RECIPES

As the year draws to a close, each nation embraces its unique set of beliefs and traditions to ring in the New Year with optimism. Around the world, people engage in various customs to invite good luck into the coming year. Italians wear something red on the final day of the year for prosperity in the upcoming one, while in the Philippines, a tradition involves consuming 12 round fruits—one for each month—to ensure good fortune throughout the year. How about Hungarians? What are the traditional Hungarian New Year’s foods to secure your luck for the coming year?

New Year’s foods for good fortune

Hungarians are known for their rich collection of folk superstitions for each season, with New Year traditions being of particular interest. On the 1st of January, nearly everyone feasts on lentils or roast pig. Why, you ask? Superstition has it that consuming lentils invites wealth. Pork is also linked to good luck, as the robust four-legged creature symbolically ‘pushes out luck,’ in contrast to a chicken or hen, which tends to scrape it away. Turkeys are believed to bring conflicts, so they are best avoided on New Year’s Eve, and fish, typically enjoyed at Christmas, is considered ill-fated on New Year’s Day.

According to tradition, even the choice of dessert holds significance. Opting for fruit and strudel is advisable. The longer the strudel on the table, the longer and happier life will be. Make sure you eat plenty of fruit on 1 January, if you want your year to be fruitful. Here are some Hungarian New Year’s foods that will ensure your good fortune for 2024!

The unbeatable lentil soup

Lentils can be incorporated into your New Year’s Day meal in various ways. Whether in a “főzelék,” a lentil-infused goulash, or an unbeatable lentil soup, here’s a recipe from Nosalty to set the tone:

Ingredients

• 50 ml olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 3 spring onions
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon Roman cumin
• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• salt
• pepper
• 1 medium tomato
• 30 dkg canned tomatoes (1 can)
• 200 g lentils (1 cup)
• 1.5 l stock juice
• 2 bay leaves
• 50 g spinach (2 handfuls)
• parsley
•  50 ml olive oil

Preparation

1. Finely dice the vegetables, grate the garlic, and sort and wash the lentils.
2. Add the three types of onions and the carrots to the heated olive oil and sauté, stirring constantly, until the onions are translucent.
3. Then add the spices: curry powder, ground cumin, chilli flakes, coriander seeds and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add the tomatoes, the canned tomatoes and the lentils and pour in the stock. Add the bay leaves and cook over a medium heat.
5. When the lentils are soft, remove the bay leaves. Transfer half of the soup to a bowl, blend until creamy, then return to the soup pot.
6. Add the baby spinach and a good sprinkling of chopped parsley, then simmer for a few more minutes to allow the greens to shrink a little.
7. Serve warm, with a few drops of lemon juice and a generous sprinkling of parsley.

Crispy pork ribs

Pork offers versatile preparation options, and here’s an easy yet delicious crispy pork ribs recipe from Nosalty that the whole family will love. If lentil soup isn’t on your menu, why not add lentils as a side to this mouthwatering dish?

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp lard
• 1 kg of pork ribs
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1.5 tsp smoked red pepper
• pepper

Preparation

1. Mix the spices and liberally sprinkle them over both sides of the ribs.
2. Place the lard in a jénai dish (or any other heatproof dish) and position the ribs on top. Cover and place in the oven at 130°C for five hours. Turn the ribs over after 2.5 hours, basting occasionally with the gravy.
3. When tender, remove the lid and bake at 200°C until it forms a nice crust. Allow the meat to rest for ten minutes before slicing.

Tip: The gravy can be used to make a delicious sauce, thickened with a little flour.

Read also:

• Classic Hungarian sour cherry strudel recipe with kneaded dough
• Two mouth-watering Hungarian retro pastries the whole family will love