In the mood for light - Sunflower mikro-greens (napraforgó-fű)

Spring salad with sunflower micro-greens, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

I always wanted to know to where sunflowers look at night. Last summer I made a trip at night to the closest sunflower field. There was a huge number of mosquitoes waiting for torturing me, but I persistently marched towards the sunflowers. Even an enormous number of mosquitoes attacked. The flowers themselves looked to the East. They seemed to turn back quite quickly after sunset! They must have waited for the new day eagerly.

Sunflower micro-green, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

 

Sunflower micro-green, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

     I was really keen on sprouting a year ago, and began to study various methods. They are all based on sprouting trays, of course, and on a lot of numbers. How long you have to do and what. As I have dyscalculia disorder, and I dislike producing too fussy things in my kitchen, I understood I would probably never sprout myself.

At the end of the winter I changed my mind. When the sprouts went into little plants, they made me realize I am fond of mikro-greens. Sunflower is grown in tons in Hungary for it's oil. Most of Hungarian people use sunflower oil for cooking.

Sunflower micro-green, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

 

The seeds make a traditional snack, szotyola or szotyi. My grandmother likes buying sunflower seeds in their hulls, because she likes peeling them. I bet we peeled millions of sunflower seeds when I was a young girl!

Sunflower micro-greens, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

 

Now I am used to planting sunflowers as mikro-greens. They are delicious and they grow quickly in the windowsill.

Meanwhile I prepared my fourth tray of sunflower mikro-greens, other young plants began to grow in the greenhouse. We didn't plant them all into the garden, so we obtained several kind of young salads, which, together with the sunflower mikro-greens, made our first fresh greeny salad of the spring.

Spring salad with sunflower micro-greens, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

 

Owl in the pie. Poppy pie with spicy chickpea (mákos pite fűszeres csicseriborsóval)

Poppy pie with spicy chickpea, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy

I had to follow a milk-free diet for some days. It is difficult for a lacto-vegetarian person, but it made me rethink my beloved flavors without milk. Luckily, I was allowed to eat butter, so I could use it in this Hungarian-Indian poppy pie.

Poppy pie with spicy chickpea, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy

I am fond of Indian chai, which I had to leave behind for some days because it contains cow milk. Instead, I transferred it's reach, spicy flavor into a Hungarian poppy seed pie. To this one, I used oath milk instead of cow milk. So I also developed the home made oath milk of my taste. (I may post it next time.)

Poppy pie with spicy chickpea, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy

Chickpea is often used in our kitchen, but I have never used it for a sweet dish before. Now I don't understand how I could do without it! Chickpea has been used in Hungarian cuisine traditionally for a long period of time. It was a common crop of village gardens together with other legumes, mainly with kinds of beans and other peas. Distinction of farm culture in Hungary after the World War II. also did away with diverse farm produces and the brilliantly diverse style of eating. Chickpea also became forgotten, and it was reborn here only as an ingredient of Asian cuisine. It's Hungarian name was 'bagolyborsó', which means 'owl pea'. Obviously this name follows the shape of a chickpea, but as for me, I guess eating plenty of chickpea shows you are as wise as an owl. As 'owl pea' does you good.

Pastry:

25 dkg whole-wheat flour

10 dkg sugar (hopefully any kind of whole cane sugar)

10 dkg butter

1,5 dl oath milk

1 dkg yeast

0,5 package of baking powder

2 eggs

pinch of salt

Poppy pie with spicy chickpea, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy

Poppy filling:

200 gr minced poppy seeds

75 gr sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1,5-2 dl cream (30% fat)

1 egg

Spicy chickpea filling:

0,5 cup of chickpea

2-3 tablespoon olive oil

1-2 tablespoon home made vanilla sugar

0,5 teaspoon Indian tea spice (chai garam masala)

0,5 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation: I soaked the chickpea overnight. I cooked it in water. I reserved also the water for further use.

Poppy pie with spicy chickpea, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy

After I had mixed lukewarm (home made) oath milk with yeast, I kneaded all the ingredients into a flexible pastry, which I divided into two, and I let them rest for some minutes in the fridge while I prepared the two fillings. (The pastry doesn't need to come up!)

I smashed the cooked chickpea in a food processor, using it's boiler water and 2-3 tablespoon olive oil to moisturize the mixture until I get a rich creamy consistence. I flavored the filling with 1-2 tablespoon vanilla sugar, chai garam masala and cinnamon. (Using the amount of spices above you will get a really spicy filling, but it will vivify the whole pie. In fact, this amount of chickpea filling makes a thin layer, so you can double the amount of the whole chickpea filling if you wish.)

Poppy pie with spicy chickpea, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy

For the poppy filling, I combined all ingredients listed above. I got a thick, black mash.

After I prepared the filling, I rolled out the two pastry balls into 1 cm thin sheets, or even thinner. One of the pastry sheets went to the oven (about 30x20 cm), with it's edges hanging over the oven, then creating a wall to prevent the filling from pouring. I put the chickpea filling first in a slight layer, and then added the poppy filling gingerly. I prevented them from mixing in order to get two separated layers. I covered the filling with the other pastry sheet. I closed the ends of the pie and pierced the top of it with a folk. I made some vintage style decoration using bands of pastry. I baked it at low heat (160 Celsius) until light brown.

Poppy pie with spicy chickpea, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy

Bryndza snack (juhtúrós pogácsa)





Bryndza snack, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy

When I bake a dessert or a snack, I usually intend to create not only a delicious food, but also a food with a healthy nutrition profile. I prefer cakes with less sugar and more protein. That is one reason why I am so fond of Bryndza snack. Above all, I like the taste of Bryndza.

The name of this Eastern-European soft cheese originates from some Slovak regions, from the 1470's. Originally it was made of sheep milk, today Slovak Bryndza must contain 50% of sheep's cheese (what remains is from cow's milk). Bryndza is easily available all over in Hungarian shops.



Bryndza snack, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy



Last month I have prepared this salty snack every week. Anyway, a lot of the people who live in our village have a Slovak origin.



Ingredients

20 dkg whole-wheat flour

15 dkg Bryndza

10 dkg butter

2-3 tablespoons sour cream

0,5 package of backing powder

0,25 teaspoon salt (taste first how salty your Bryndza is)



Bryndza snack, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy



I mixed Bryndza, butter, sour cream into an almost smooth mixture. I added the dry ingredients, and kneaded it. I rolled out the pastry and then folded it several times, and repeated this operation three more times. Finally, I rolled out the pastry to be 1,5 cm thick, and I plunged a really tiny cutter. I kneaded the rest and rolled, folded and cut it again. I baked the pastry at 180 Celsius, for 13 minutes.

My first tea in the garden with Hungarian cottage cheese pie (túrós pite)



cottage cheese pie, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

With the first snowdrops opening their flowers I was out on the terrace to drink my first tea in the garden this spring. As I developed great enthusiasm towards cottage cheese this winter, I took some Hungarian cottage cheese pie with me.



My first tea in the garden, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó





We live outside, in the garden and on the terrace, from spring until fall. I wear coat and use blankets if it is too cold, but I use every minutes to enjoy open air. Drinking my tea with a snack sitting outside, looking at the plants of the garden is one of my daily joys.





I baked this cottage cheese pie remembering well one of my grandmothers, who often prepared a similar pastry, túrós lepény. She used pig lard to bake a pie (pite or lepény), and she would be astonished to see I waste butter for baking a dessert. There are both yeast and baking powder in this kind of pie.



cottage cheese pie, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó



Pastry:

25 dkg whole-wheat flour

10 dkg sugar (hopefully any kind of whole cane sugar)

10 dkg butter

1,5 dl milk

1 dkg yeast

0,5 package of baking powder

1 egg

1 egg yolk

pinch of salt

Filling:

0,5 kg cottage cheese

1 egg

2 egg white

1 tbls flour

1 sour cream (2 dl)

3 tbls sugar

raisins

cottage cheese pie, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

After I mixed lukewarm milk with yeast, I kneaded all the ingredients into a flexible pastry, which I divided into two, and I let them rest for some minutes in the fridge. (The pastry doesn't need to come up!) After I prepared the filling, I rolled out the two pastry balls into 1 cm thin sheets, or even thinner. One of the pastry sheets went to the oven, with it's edges hanging over the oven, then creating a wall to prevent the filling from pouring. I put the filling and covered it with the other pastry sheet. I closed the ends of the pie and pierced the top of it with a folk. I baked at low heat (160 Celsius) until light brown.

Millet cake with poppy filling (mákos kölestorta)

Millet cake with poppy seeds, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

Using huge amount of poppy seeds is typical in Hungarian cuisine. Those, who are not familiar with Hungarian sweets, are often surprised to see such thick, black fillings, and what is more, whole cakes made of poppy seeds. I use several kilos of poppy seeds per year in the kitchen, and the other day I realized that I had only 10 dkg left.

But I had millet at home, which is said to be the oldest cereal that was used by Hungarians, or by the ancestors of Hungarians wandering at the steppe. Millet is gluten-free, takes care of your stomach and metabolism, protects your heart, repairs the body-tissues, lowers the risk of diabetes-II., helps prevent gallstones, and contains several valuable nutrients like manganese, tryptophan, magnesium, phosphorus. Wow, I decided to eat even more millet!

This cake tastes supernatural and clear. Next time I will use twice more poppy filling.

Millet cake with poppy seeds, photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

Ingredients

millet mash:

1 cup millet

2,5 cup milk

2 tablespoons honey

2,5 dkg butter

1 egg

1 tablespoon flour if needed

poppy filling

10 dkg minced poppy seeds

5 dkg sugar

1 egg

1 dl cream (30% fat)

1 tablespoon flour (use any kind of gluten-free flour if you want to go gluten-free)

I prepared the mash earlier. I just usually boil the milk and the millet for some minutes, then I add the honey, take it from the oven, cover the pot with 3 kitchen towels, and I return to see it is ready in 1 hour. I mix the mash with the butter, egg and a tablespoon of flour and poured 2/3 part of it into an oven. I mixed all ingredients of the poppy filling, then I dosed it to the top of the millet mash with a tablespoon. I mixed the poppy heaps slightly into the mash in order to get a nice outfit of the cake. I covered with the remaining of the millet. I baked the cake in about 40 min, at 180 C.

Almost Rákóczi: Szilágyi-túrós (cottage cheese cake)

Sziágyi-túrós (cottage cheese cake), photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

Rákóczi-túrós is a famous Hungarian dessert, but I am not going to write about this egg white covered cottage cheese cake. Personally, pure egg white is among those ingredients I am unable to take into my mouth. I decided to elaborate my own Rákóczi-túrós once, with meringue instead of beaten egg white. But this promise is still waits for me to fulfill.

Sziágyi-túrós (cottage cheese cake), photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

Instead, I prepared a rather similar cake. Szilágyi-túrós has also cottage cheese in the pastry, which is especially rich. This sweet was one of my the favorites in the winter, when your body asks you for more energy. Using white sugar always makes me feel uncomfortable. I substitute it for honey or some kind of unrefined cane sugar, for example, muscovado, if I can. So use the sugar of your taste. (In case of a dough, remember that yeast doesn't work with stevia.)

Sziágyi-túrós (cottage cheese cake), photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

Pastry:

4 eggs

100 gr sugar

1 package vanilla sugar

250 gr cottage cheese

150 gr butter, melted

2 dl sour cream (1 cup)

250 gr flour

0,5 package backing powder

1 pinch of salt

Cover:

250 gr cottage cheese

50 gr sugar

2 eggs

50 gr raisins

1 tablespoon breadcrumbs

Sziágyi-túrós (cottage cheese cake), photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

3 tablespoons apricot jam

I mixed the ingredients of the pastry and poured the mixture into an oven. I began to bake the pastry. I mixed the ingredients of the cover, except the apricot jam. After the pastry baked 20 minutes, I took out, spread the apricot jam, and the cottage cheese filling. I did it very quickly and then placed the cake into the oven for another 20-30 minutes.

Sziágyi-túrós (cottage cheese cake), photo: Szilágyi-Nagy Ildikó

A Few Words About Onions (and Hungarian Cabbage Soup)

I have been preparing myself to write a topic about onions for a long. Perhaps this seems a weird obsession. Well, it is not weird at all. (What does „weird” mean, anyway?) The simple fact is that most Hungarian food recipes begin like this: fry some chopped onion in a pan or a saucer. So for me, and many other Hungarians, „onion” is an equivalent of cooking.

There is no Hungarian household without onions. They are in the pantry during the winter, waiting for their celebrated moment, when they can act their prime role in the process of cooking. They are with us. They also accompanied our Hun ancestors along the Asian steppe – nomads did not only eat meat... Wikipedia also opens a Historic perspective: .„Allium cepa is known only in cultivation, but related wild species occur in Central Asia”.