Cevapcici

Today's Balkan themed grill party was a gread success! Cevapcici, one of the most emblematic dish of the Balkan region played the main role. So that I avoid to offend anyone, I just call it Balkan dish as each folk in this region claims the rights to call it "their own national food". It's an outstanding dish and so easy to make. Traditionally it can be served with mustard, mustard onion, ajvar, sour cream/créme freche or even with yogurt.

Ingredients:

• 500 g minced pork meat
• 500 g minced beef meat
• 500 g minced lamb meat
• 3 medium onions
• 8 cloves garlic (1 head is perfect as well)
• 2 Tbsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. red paprika powder (édes-nemes)
• 2 pinches chili powder
• 1/2 Tbsp. pepper
• 2 Tbsp. marjoram
• 2 Tbsp. tarragon mustard (mix mustard with tarragon)
• 1 egg
• oil for frying

Directions:

Finely chop the onion it is almost minced. Chop the garlic as thoroughly as you possibly can (or simply press it). Add these to the meat in a mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper and all the other herbs. Mix it well with your hands. 

1. Take a kitchen plank and a large knife. Make small tight rolls while using the knife (ca. 6cm long and 3cm thick). The point is to make the rolls as tight as possible otherwise the cevapcici falls apart while you are baking them. If you are not sure, try to make it as tight as possible, then put them into the freezer for about 30 minutes, then cut the rolls into pieces.

2. Use a gnocchi, croquet and noodle maker machine (see picture below) and make ca. 6cm long and 3cm thick cevapcici rolls.

Preheat oil in a frying pan, fry the cevapcici while continuously turning them around until crispy. Make sure they don't stick to the bottom and/or get burned! It takes about 10 minutes.

OR: Heat your grill to medium high and cook the cevapici for about 2-3 minutes per side, turning once, until they are cooked through and a deep brown color. Do not overcook them.

For those who want to be professionals and real cevapcici experts, here is a small hint. 

Forrás: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FyXW18ZgdtI

 

Forrás: http://www.haztartasiaruhaz.hu/images/termek/711214_tok_szaggato.jpg

 

Pörkölt, the Hungarian goulash

The sun is shining, everybody is hungry, wonderful smell is hanging above the patio (and above the whole neighbourhood as well), men are standing around the fire, goulash/pörkölt is currently in progress. 

Ingredients for the pörkölt:

• 2000 g pork shoulder cut in cues
• 3 medium onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 medium red coloured Californian paprika
• 3 tomatoes
• 40 ml dry red wine
• 20 ml water
• salt, pepper
• ground cumin
• red paprika powder
• 4 Tbsp. lard
• 3 1/4 Tbsp. chilli (Erős Pista)
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce

Ingredients for dumplings (nokedli/galuska):

• 1000 g flour
• 2-3 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. salt
• water for the texture of the dough
• water for cooking/boiling dumplings

Ingredients:

Melt and heat lard in a Kotlich on camp fire over medium heat. Cook onions in oil until soft, stirring frequently. Add red paprika powder (carefully! make sure it doesn't burn otherwise it's bitter) then meat cubes and freshly pressed garlic. Add the cubed meat and while stirring the meat will begin to fry, releasing its natural juices. Sprinkle salt and pepper over it while adding herbs and chilli. The meat should thus be cooked in its own juices for about 1,5 hours. 
Then: add vegetables cut in smaller pieces, red wine and let it cook/sauté for another 2-2,5 hours. Once the juice has virtually evaporated, a small amount of water or dry wine can be added. The liquid must never cover the meat. Don't forget to stir once in a while.
Serve hot/warm with dumplings/rice/noodles/smashed potatoes/parsley potatoes. 

For the dumplings: combine all the ingredients. Add as much water as needed to get a quite thick dough. Stir until dough is smooth and no longer sticks to spoon.
Bring salted water in a large pan to boil.  

Preferred tool for making dumplings is a spaetzle plane. 

Push the batter through a spaetzle plane propped on the pot, or use a spoon to tear off pieces of the batter and drop them into the water. Drop dumplings into rapidly boiling water; boil covered and cook until rise to the top of the water.

Peppered pork ragout with peas- Borsos tokány

This dish probably originated from Transylvania, which used to belong to Hungary long long time ago. It is said that the recipe originates from the time before red paprika appeared in Hungarian cuisine. Originally it was based on lamb meat, later on this place was taken by pork or beef. Nowadays, you can actually use all kind of meat you like. This dish is strangely similar to Hungarian stew (pörkölt) but the meat is not cut in cubes but stripes (=in old Hungarian language it means tokány). The another difference is the absence of red paprika powder and significantly much more ground pepper is added. Not to mention peas I added to enrich the meal.

Ingredients:

• 500 g pork fillet
• 2-3 tsp. lard
• 1 small cup of sour cream (tejföl)
• bacon
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 3 small pieces bay- leaves
• salt, pepper
• flour
• water (on demand)

Directions:

Cut meat and bacon into slices.
Fry bacon on the pan. Add the meat slices, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Sauté for a few minutes. 
Press garlic and add to the ragout. At last add peas and cook it together until cooked. If necessary add a little bit of water. 

Mix flour with a small cup of sour cream (tejföl) and thicken the ragout. 
Boil it up another time then serve hot with rice.