Recipe of the week: Catfish Stew with Cottage Cheese Pasta

Photo: Funzine.hu

When it comes to popular Hungarian meals, catfish stew is one you should not miss. The following recipe is surprisingly easy, why wouldn’t you try it at home? Get your taste buds ready for a taste sensation, because coming their way is a rollercoaster party of flavours!

Ingredients (for 4 people)

80 dkg of catfish fillet, 1 bigger onion, 1 green or red paprika, 1 tomato, 2 teaspoons of Hungarian sweet paprika powder, 8-10 dkg flour, 1 cup of sour cream (15 dkg), salt and pepper to taste, a little oil

Directions

Cut the paprika, the onion and the tomato into smaller pieces, wash the fish fillets (remove the skin if needed, as well as the fat), then chop them into cubes. Season them with salt and pepper. Mix the flour with a teaspoon of paprika powder and coat each pieces. (Hint: If you like spicy food, add a little hot paprika powder too.) Now heat oil in a bigger bowl and fry the fish for about 1 minute on all sides. Once you are ready, take the fish out of the bowl and use the remaining oil to fry the sliced onion (until it becomes soft and golden).

Add the rest of the paprika powder, pour water into it, and put the fillet pieces together with the chopped tomato and paprika into the bowl. Cook it for about 20-25 minutes before thickening it with the mixture of flour and sour cream. Thickening with flour: use 2 tablespoons of flour, mix it thoroughly with 1/4 cup cold water. Add the mixture to the soup base while constantly stirring, and cook it until thickened and bubbly (it takes about 5 minutes). Fun fact: the main ingredient, catfish is interspecifically variable in size; many have a maximum length of 12 cm, while just a few months ago a more than 2 metres long specimen got hooked in Baranya county.

Cottage cheese pasta:

3 slices of smoked bacon, 2 cups of sour cream (30 dkg), 1 package “csusza” pasta, 1 container, cottage cheese (25 dkg)

Bring a large pot of lightly-salted water to a boil. Cut the bacon (smoked fatback) into thin slices, then cook them in a skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. After 8-10 minutes when the pasta is ready (al dente), drain it and stir the sour cream into the bowl. Finally, sprinkle the crumbled bacon over the top. Voilá! Instead of pasta, go for homemade noodles (galuska)! Ingredients: 40 dkg flour, 1 egg, 3 dl water, a pinch of salt. Directions: mix the ingredients, cut pieces of the mixture to form the noodles (use a tablespoon), and boil them for about 4-5 minutes.

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