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Zöldbableves (Hungarian green bean soup)

Zöldbableves is a summer soup from Hungarian home kitchens, made when green beans are cheap at every market: tender beans in a light broth, soured with a little vinegar and thickened with a paprika roux and sour cream, so it is creamy, gently tart and bright red-orange. It is served as the first course of a weekday lunch or as a light supper with bread. The classic mistake is pouring cold sour cream straight into the hot soup, where it splits into flecks; temper it first. Chef's tip: let the roux turn just golden before adding the paprika off the heat, because paprika burns in seconds and turns bitter.

30 min

Hungarian Soups

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Köménymagos levesCaraway soup with bread cubes

Köménymagos leves was the breakfast of Hungarian peasants and soldiers long before coffee arrived, and it is still made in villages on cold mornings and as a soothing soup after a big night. A dark roux of flour and fat is cooked with plenty of caraway and a touch of paprika, thinned with water and finished with beaten egg and crisp bread cubes. The common mistake is not browning the roux enough: pale roux gives a floury, grey soup, so keep stirring until it is the colour of hazelnuts. Chef's tip: add the paprika off the heat, just before the water, because paprika burns in seconds in hot fat and turns bitter.

25 min

Hungarian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Újházi tyúkhúslevesHen soup with vermicelli

Ede Újházi, a much-loved actor of the Budapest National Theatre at the turn of the last century, was so fussy about his Sunday hen soup that a city restaurant named its version after him, and the name stuck. Today Újházi soup is the standard first course at Hungarian weddings and Sunday lunches: a clear, golden broth simmered for hours from a boiling hen, full of carrot, parsley root and celeriac, with mushrooms, green peas and a tangle of thin vermicelli added at the end. The meat is pulled off the bone and served in the bowl, or eaten separately with the vegetables and a little horseradish. The usual slip is letting the pot boil hard, which clouds the broth; it should only tremble. Chef's tip: cook the vermicelli separately and put it straight into the bowls, so the broth stays clear and the noodles don't swell overnight.

180 min

Hungarian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Jókai bablevesSmoky bean soup with pork

Mór Jókai, the nineteenth-century novelist, is said to have ordered this bean soup so often in his favourite Balatonfüred restaurant that it was named after him, and it is now a fixture of Budapest lunch menus and workers' canteens. This is a pork soup through and through: a smoked pork knuckle simmers with dried beans and roots until the meat falls apart, and slices of smoked pork sausage go in at the end. A paprika roux gives colour, a swirl of sour cream and a dash of vinegar add tang, and tiny pinched csipetke noodles make it a full meal with a slice of bread. Soak the beans overnight first. A common mistake is salting early; the smoked knuckle is salty, so taste only at the end. Chef's tip: simmer the knuckle for 30 minutes on its own first and taste the water; if it is very salty, throw it away and start again with fresh water.

150 min

Hungarian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

LebbencslevesPotato and pasta sheet soup

Shepherds on the Hungarian Great Plain carried dry sheets of pasta in their packs, broke them into a cauldron over the fire with potatoes and paprika, and called it lebbencsleves. In villages and family kitchens it is still the soup for a cold weekday. Usually the onion is fried in smoked bacon; this meat-free version fries the onion and paprika in oil, so it is vegan, and toasts the pasta in the same pot first for a nutty depth. The broth turns brick red and is thickened a little by the potatoes, with chewy shards of pasta in every spoonful. Buy egg-free dried pasta sheets (or broken lasagne sheets) to keep it vegan. Where it goes wrong is adding the pasta too early: it swells, goes slimy and drinks up the soup. Chef's tip: a little green pepper and a fresh tomato added with the potatoes give the soup a summery sweetness.

45 min

Hungarian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Palóc levesLamb and green bean soup

In the 1890s a famous Budapest restaurateur created this soup in honour of the novelist Kálmán Mikszáth, who wrote about the Palóc people of the northern hills of Nógrád, and it became a classic of Hungarian menus. It sits halfway between soup and stew: tender lamb (or mutton) cooked with onion, paprika and caraway, then green beans and diced potato, all finished with sour cream and a handful of dill, so it is creamy, fresh and gently sour. Serve it as a full lunch with crusty bread. The usual slip is adding the beans and potatoes at the start, so they go to mush while the lamb is still tough; give the meat a head start. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of vinegar stirred in at the end lifts the sour cream and brightens the whole bowl.

90 min

Hungarian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Hideg meggylevesChilled sour cherry soup

Hideg meggyleves is a chilled sour cherry soup served as a starter in Hungary at the height of summer, from family lunches in the cherry-growing villages around Pest county to the terraces of Balaton restaurants. Sour cherries simmer briefly with sugar, cinnamon and cloves, then the soup is thickened with sour cream and served icy cold, pink and gently tangy. Some cooks add a splash of red wine for grown-ups. It is eaten before the main course, not as dessert, though no one complains if you have it after. Chef's tip: chill it for at least 3 hours; the flavour rounds out and the spices soften as it cools. A common mistake is boiling it after the cream goes in, which curdles it.

25 min

Hungarian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

GulyáslevesBeef goulash soup

Real Hungarian goulash is a soup, gulyásleves, born in the cattle herders' kettles of the Great Plain and still cooked over open fires at summer festivals and in every csárda (country inn) between Budapest and Debrecen. Beef shin or chuck simmers with lots of onion, sweet paprika, caraway and green pepper until tender, then potatoes and carrots go in. It is brothy, rich red and gently spicy, eaten with fresh bread. Chef's tip: take the pot off the heat before adding the paprika; it burns in seconds in hot fat and turns bitter.

145 min

Hungarian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

HalászléSpicy carp soup

Halászlé is the fiery fisherman's soup of the rivers Tisza and Danube, and on Christmas Eve it is on almost every Hungarian table; the towns of Szeged and Baja each claim the best version. A rich stock is made from fish heads and bones with onions and lots of paprika, sieved until smooth and red, and then thick slices of carp (or catfish) are poached in it at the last moment. Serve with white bread and fresh hot peppers. Chef's tip: poach the fish fillets without stirring; just swirl the pot so the pieces stay whole.

105 min

Hungarian Soups

by KrazyBadal 1 views