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17May

blog post, Eating and Drinking, Photos, Things To Do

food, hungarian, snacks, soups, traditional, yummy

Traditional Hungarian Dishes You Must Try

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What could be a better way to get to know a country than trying its food?

Food is a common ground. It represents one`s culture while keeping your belly well and at least you don`t have to worry about your rumbling stomach. Hungarians take great pride of their dishes. As you will notice we use a lot of paprika which is a spice that makes our dish hot and tasty. The other inevitable element of Hungarian dishes is sour cream. It is always there like a good old friend. Here are the main suggestions that will sure be a treat for your taste buds while you are in Budapest.

SOUPS

Sour Cherry Soup ( Meggyleves ) – light summer dish, sweet chilled soup made with cherries, sugar and sour cream.
Újházi Chicken Broth ( Újházi-tyúkhúsleves ) – hen soup made with carrots and other vegetables.
Goulash ( Gulyásleves ) – originally prepared by herdsman -that is where the name itself `gulyás` comes from- is a world famous slow cooked beef soup cooked with onion, tomato paprika spice, potato and carrots in a cauldron over open fire served with bread.
Fisherman`s Soup ( Halászlé ) – made with local river fish usually prepared outside in a cauldron over open fire spiced with a lot of red ground paprika
Bean soup Jókai style ( Jókai-bableves ) – named after the famous Hungarian novelist whose favorite soup was this bean soup made with pork knuckle, bean, carrots and the sour cream

MAIN DISHES

Chicken Paprikash ( Csirkepaprikás ) – chicken goodness with creamy paprika sauce cooked with sweet paprika and sour cream accompanied with pasta or Hungarian gnocchi ( nokedli ) on the side
Beef Stew ( Marhapörkölt ) – an onion and paprika based slow-cooked beef stew that comes with a side dish.
Stuffed Cabbage ( Töltött káposzta ) – the large, pickled cabbage leaves are stuffed with a mixture of minced pork meat, rice and spices. It is then topped with our beloved sour cream.
Lecsó – so simple and so yummy this vegetable stew of onions, tomatoes, and sweet paprika, with variations including sausage / hot dog sausage and eggs.
Stuffed pepper ( Töltött paprika ) – whole peppers stuffed with rice, meat, and vegetables and cooked in tomato sauce.
Layered Potato ( Rakott krumpli ) – baked casserole-type dish made of layers of sliced potatoes, boiled eggs, sausage, and sour cream.
Noodle varieties ( Tészták ) – noodles with ground poppy-seed and powder sugar/with steamed, grated cabbage / with roasted paprika potatoes.
Túrós csusza – flat, wide noodles with cottage cheese, sour cream and scraps of roasted bacon.
Hortobágyi palacsinta – savoury pancakes filled with a stew of some type of minced meat, fried onion, chicken and topped with sour cream and paprika sauce.

DESSERTS

Sponge cake Somlói-style ( Somlói galuska ) – Heaven on Earth type dessert that has three types of sponge cake – plain, walnut, and chocolate, served with whipped cream on top, dark chocolate sauce, raisins, and plenty of walnuts.
Pancake ( Palacsinta ) – a thicker kind of crepes filled with sweetened cottage cheese, jam or poppyseed.
Pancake Gundel style ( Gundel palacsinta ) – filled with ground walnuts, raisins, and rum and topped with dark chocolate sauce.
Chestnut puree ( Gesztenyepüré ) – if you don`t like roasted chestnuts I suggests you try purée of chestnuts, sugar, and rum, usually served with whipped cream and a cherry on top.
Dobos cake ( Dobos torta ) – five-layered sponge cake filled with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramelized sugar; on the edges covered with nuts.
Hungarian strudel ( Rétes ) – pastry stuffed with apple, sour cherry, or poppyseed sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Floating Island ( Madártej ) – whipped egg whites floating on creamy vanilla custard.
Flódni – the all in one pastry traditionally made of four layers: walnut, apple, poppyseed, and jam.
Sweet cottage cheese dumpling ( Túrógombóc ) – cottage cheese boiled and rolled into bread crumbs served with sweet sour cream.
Beigli – a spiral-shaped log roll containing sweet walnut or poppyseed filling.

SNACKS

Chimney cake ( Kürtös kalács ) – is a sweet dough that is shaped into cylindrical spirals, baked over charcoal and then coated with powdered sugar, cocoa, nuts, coconut or cinnamon. A must have during a market stroll at the Christmas market.
Hummus of Hungary ( Körözött ) – spread made of cottage cheese paprika, spices, onion, sour cream
Lángos – hearty snack, deep-fried flat bread smothered with cheese and sour cream or garlic sauce. Crisp on the outside soft in the middle.
Pogácsa – bite-sized biscuits served at parties, the dough topped with cheese

Did this list make you Hungry? Great! There are so many options to eat well that there is no way you will walk around hungry in Hungary.

Enjoy your meal. Jó étvágyat!

Check out this popular video of foreigners trying different Hungarian meals for the first time ever:

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