Caraway seed soup

Caraway seed soup is a light and tasty dish. It is a simple dish, ideal for fast days, and a perfect starter for a banquet.

Ingredients 

• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1tbs flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups water or veggie stock

Method

• Heat the oil and toast the seeds until they release their aroma.
• Add the flour and let it brown a bit. 
• Add the paprika, and pour the water or stock over.
• Cook for 15 mins until it is silky
• Strain the seeds, and serve with crusty bread.

Paprikás csirke (Paprika Chicken)

paprika chicken, served with kluski/gnocchi and snow peas.

Paprika chicken is one of those simply yet amazingly tasty dishes. It is heavy in sour cream, so it's really not an everyday food, but it is a fantastic dish for a birthday treat! Seeing as I just had one of those, I had to celebrate and spoil myself :)

Real Hungarian paprika - that is, paprika grown and produced in Hungary - gives the best, most intense flavour and colour. If you can't get that, Hungarian-style will do.

I like to serve it with a little bit of green crunchy veg for texture - and snowpeas are my absolute fav for that!. makes for a lovely vibrant dish as well.

Ingredients

1 chicken, jointed (ask your butcher or use the equivalent in size of wings and legs from the supermarket) - keep the meat on the bone, it improves the flavour.
2 onions finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons of sweet paprika
1 tub sour cream
salt to taste

noodles to serve

Method

• Cook onions in a casserole dish in a little bit of olive oil until translucent.
• Add in meat and brown skin.
• Add in the paprika.
• Cover the chicken with water so that it is *just* covered - the more liquid, the runnier the sauce will be.
• Place in a oven at 180 degrees C and cook for 40mins-1hr until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.
• take out of oven, and add in sour cream, a bit at at time, until you get the flavour balance you are looking for. Season to taste.

Serve over noodles.

Spiced roast vegetables

I don't know where this dish originated, but we have been making it in our family for as long as I can remember. It is a mix of roast vegetables, smothered in olive oil and spices, and baked until soft. A perfect dish for autumn, especially if you have a bumper harvest of root vegetables and pumpkins waiting to be devoured.



This is a very easy dish to prepare, and one that is tasty enough on it's own as well as a great side dish for roasts.

Spiced roast vegetables

Ingredients
Desired amount of vegetables for roasting (we usually use a mix of any or all of the following: capsicum, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, and jerusalem artichoke - though you are welcome to experiment with other veggies as well - onions and whole garlic cloves in their skin go very nicely)
olive oil - just enough to coat the veggies
pinch of salt
paprika
nutmeg

I usually use 1 generous tbs of sweet hungarian paprika with 1 tsp of nutmeg to about half a standard baking pan/roasting pan of veggies. You can add a little bit of heat with a little hot paprika, chillis, or cayenne pepper if you want it extra spicy. ;)

Method
Cut all veggies to around the same size and arrange in dish.
Sprinkle the salt and spices on top
Add a small amount of olive oil, and mix through the veggies until they are all lightly coated with oil

Place in a 190 oven and cook until veggies are tender - usually 40 minutes or so.
Serve!

Gulyás leves (Goulash Soup) - Authentic Hungarian Goulash!

Gulyás with crusty bread - a lovely warming meal.
This version was made with sweet paprika.

There are many different recipes for Goulash on the web - so what makes mine authentically Hungarian? Well, it comes from my father who is authentically Hungarian, of course!! This dish has a beautiful red colour to it, and a spiciness that contains no heat,  from the sweet paprika used to flavour it.   Real Hungarian goulash is a soup, not a stew. This same dish thickened into a stew is more rightly called a Pörkölt instead of a Gulyás.


What I am giving you here is the most basic recipe - to this people add all sorts of things - a spoon of tomato paste, carrots, caraway, and garlic, for example. Some cooks add potatoes, but others will tell you to never "spoil" the taste of goulash with potato. I say, do whatever rocks your boat! We never add potato, prefering the taste of the "unspoilt" soup lol! Green capsicums are usually used in this dish, but I used red as they were half the price of the green!

This dish is also brilliant to make in a slow cooker - just add in all the ingredients and off you go!

This was the gulyás I made last night, with smoked paprika.
Turned out to be quite yummy!!

Gulyás

1 kg beef (choose a casserole cut)
3 onions finely sliced
2 tbs sweet Hungarian paprika
2 green capsicums, chopped  
water


Saute the onions until translucent. 
Brown the beef in with the onions.
Add in the paprika and capsicums.
Pour in water to completely cover the contents of the pot, and a wee bit more.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until the beef is tender.
 
Serve it with crusty bread or some noodles & enjoy!


Note: I've found that smoked paprika will do at a pinch too, when you find out at the last minute you're out of sweet on a rainy evening when you're in your jammies, and the meat has just been browned!!! Changes the flavour, obviously, but still is mighty tasty!

Chicken paprika stuffed capsicum

Chicken Paprika Stuffed Capsicums

serves 4

4 large red capsicums
400g chicken mince
1 onion finely chopped
2 tbs paprika
2 cups cooked rice
3 tbs sour cream

Lightly cook onion in a pan till translucent. Add in chicken and cook briefly till meat changes colour. Add in paprika and stir through. Place in a bowl with the rice and sour cream, mix through. Set the pan aside to use to cook the sauce. (see next recipe)

Cut tops of the capsicums, stuff with the stuffing. Put the top back on, and place capsicums in a lightly oiled baking pan. Bake for 40 mins or until the capsicums are soft and tender at 180 degrees C. Serve with a dollop of paprika sauce.

Paprika Sauce

2 cups chicken stock - salt-reduced if possible
2tbs paprika
2 tbs sour cream

Pour chicken stock in pan to deglaze. Heat until warm, add in paprika. Add the sour cream and stir till combined. Reduce down to a gravy-like consistency.

Note: You can make a vegetarian version of this by substituting the chicken with coursely chopped portabella mushroom, and reducing the amount of paprika you use in the stuffing mix.