Hungarian Flaky/Puff Pastry unyeasted, traditional & veganized (Hajtogatott leveles tészta)

My dad's side of the family came to Canada from Hungary, and like many families, some of our fondest memories were the incredible meals we had together. Food plays such an important part in who we are, and I was fortunate to have a grandmother who cooked and baked traditional Hungarian foods for us. 

When I was in my late teens, maybe early twenties, my grandmother showed me how to make the dough for her almas kifli, which translated means apple crescent pastries. I watched her work, and took notes on a little index card. Years later, I found the card, and decided to give it try as a surprise for my father. Problem was, my grandmother didn't measure a thing...the card simply read: flour, fat, salt, water. Yikes! Over the past couple of years, I've reworked variations of her ingredients and technique, and finally hit the jackpot last week. The dough is as close as I can get to her recipe, and that makes me happy.

Hungarian pastry is robust and filling, nothing delicate or dainty here, so don't be afraid to roll it out thick when making your pastries. Use this dough for jams, apple, poppy seed, or walnut fillings...recipes to follow. As for veganizing the recipe, little does anyone know that I have never used butter - I always bake with Earth Balance, a vegan margarine. Use the blocks, not the spreadable kind (2 blocks = 1/2 lb). 

Plan ahead, this recipe takes at least a day or two, lots of time is needed to chill the dough. Not sure if it's worth it? Here's a sneak peak at what the final product looks like in full almas (apple) action. 

Recipe to follow...   :-)

Makes 12-20 pastries, depending on type. I strongly suggest you double the recipe!

Traditional version:               Veganized:

1/2 lb butter, softened           1/2 lb vegan margarine, softened
4 cups flour                            4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt                            1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vinegar                       1 Tbsp vinegar
2 egg yolks                            1/4 cup vegan margarine, softened
ice cold water as needed        ice cold water as needed

Start by mixing your 1/2 lb butter/margarine with 1/2 cup of the flour, I use a hand mixer to make things go a little more quickly. Next, cut 3 pieces of parchment paper, and spread out your mixture into 3 thin layers, approximately 3-4 mm thick. Put on a baking tray in fridge for an hour or two to chill. 

When you've put your butter away to chill, start making your dough. The only difference between the traditional and vegan recipes is that the 2 egg yolks are substituted by an additional 1/4 cup vegan margarine, which you should work into the flour with a fork or pastry cutter before mixing with the other ingredients. I actually used a bread mixer for this part, but my grandmother used a good old-fashioned wooden spoon. Mix the remaining ingredients until a smooth elastic dough forms, adding more flour or ice water as needed. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in fridge for 4-5 hours, overnight if possible.

Now you're going to work the butter/margarine layers into your dough. Roll up your sleeves, you're going to need to put some muscle in it! Remove 1 butter block from the fridge, let it soften just a little while you roll out your dough. The dough should be rolled out to about 3-4 mm thick, or at least 3 times the size of your butter block. Use a lightly floured surface to roll the dough out, you want to add as little additional flour into the dough as possible. 

Lay the butter in the center of the dough, and fold over edges as pictured. Roll out dough again to three times the size of a butter block, and repeat the folding and rolling again with remaining butter blocks. 

Flour your dough and surface lightly, only as needed.

My grandmother used to refrigerate the dough for an hour or two in between rolling in the butter blocks, 

but I find if you're sort on time it still 

works well if the butter is chilled and you simply roll in all three pieces in the same go. 

Wrap in plastic wrap and let refrigerate for 4-5 hours, or overnight. Do not skip this step! The difference in using the dough right away versus letting it chill thoroughly is incredibly...sure, your pastries still look nice and taste great, but chilling the dough greatly changes the appearance and flakiness of the layers. The last time I made these, I used only 1/2 of the dough right away, and made the second batch a couple of days later - the second batch was incredible, the dough has a hearty crispiness common to Hungarian pastries but still melted in your mouth. I had zero appetite at the time, but still managed to eat two.

I'll post some Hungarian filling recipes soon, but you could use this dough for almost anything. Another key step to beautiful results is to  keep the dough chilled until the very minute you are ready to roll, fill and bake it! Preheat your oven, have your fillings ready.

In the traditional recipe, before baking brush the tops of the pastries with an egg that's been beaten first with a tablespoon of water. For the veganized version, brush with soy milk or leave plain, they'll still be delicious!

Bake pastries at 440-degrees for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. Watch your pastry carefully, especially if your oven runs hot - you don't want these to burn. Dust liberally with powdered sugar, if desired. Store in a covered container.

Calorie count? Trust me, you don't want to know. This recipe actually uses less butter than my grandmother's, cause you know, I was trying to keep it light.

Hungarian Tomato-Pepper Stew with Seitan Bacon (Lecsó)

Lecsó (leh-cho) is a simple stew of several ingredients favoured in Hungarian cooking - peppers, tomatoes, and onions...and of course, a generous dousing of paprika. When made in the traditional fashion, the onions and peppers are fried in bacon fat until crisp, tomatoes are then added and the whole thing simmered until it resembles a thick tomato stew. There are actually quite a few variations; served with boiled potatoes or cooked with rice or egg barley (tarhonya), served as is, with bread or as a savory pancake filling, thickened with beaten eggs or with a fried egg on top, with bacon or kolbász sausages, and of course, with sour cream if one desires.

Veganizing this recipe was actually quite easy - I used cubes of seitan bacon from this recipe to impart a smoky flavor. It's optional though, you could certainly make this without the bacon. The photo above kinda looks like it's mostly peppers, but that's just the pic, there was plenty of tomato goodness going on. Try to get yellow Hungarian peppers if you can, but otherwise standard green ones will do just fine. This is a very simple dish to make, and can be served as a main course or a side dish...it made for a great lazy day lunch.

Splurge on some decent quality Hungarian paprika - the Spanish variation is just not the same. More on that later, remind me to tell you about the time I got into an argument with a Polish butcher (during my omnivore days) over the difference...trust me on this point.

Makes 4 large servings.


3 Tbsp olive oil
2 servings seitan bacon or store-bought equivalent
3 large green peppers, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion, diced
3 large tomatoes, chopped
2-5 Tablespoons sweet and/or hot Hungarian paprika
  *add as much or as little as you like, depends on your own tastes
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
black pepper (if desired)
1/4 cup sour cream of choice


Heat up a skillet or pot, preferably non-stick or ceramic (pictured is an 'Earth Chef' ceramic frying pan, awesome). Cube the seitan bacon and fry in 2 Tbsp of the oil until nicely browned, then remove and put aside. Fry the onions and green peppers in the remaining 1 Tbsp oil until browned, add the garlic, sugar, salt, pepper and paprika and continue to cook for another minute - be careful to not let the paprika burn on the bottom of the pot! Add the tomatoes, put on a lid, and simmer for 10-20 minutes, until the veggies are all well-cooked. 


During the last 2 minutes of cooking, throw in your seitan bacon to impart a wonderful smoky flavour. mmmmmm...serve with a Tablespoon of sour cream and sprinkle with paprika.


Per serving: 219 cals, 13g fat, 17g carbs, 312mg sodium, 4g fiber, 11g protein. (PRO40.2/19%,CHO64.1/29%,FAT112/52%)

Toltott Kaposzta - Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage

There is nothing like the smell of yummy cabbage rolls simmering on the stove! This is my vegan adaptation of the Hungarian classic, with a filling of seitan, TVP and rices. Bears a decent resemblance to the original, really hit the spot! Thicken the sauce with soy sour cream if desired, but not necessary... 

Makes 13 cabbage rolls, with 1/3 cup filling each.

1 large head green cabbage

Put on a pot of water to boil - use a pot large enough to hold the head of cabbage. Place the cabbage on a cutting board, and with a small sharp knife cut out the core. Put the cabbage in the boiling water, and turn occasionaly as needed. As the outer layers of the cabbage cook through, gently peel them off and remove from the water - be careful not to burn your fingers, use tongs or a large spoon! Put aside the cabbage leaves to cool, while finishing remaining layers go ahead and make the filling.

Filling
 

1/4 cup raw long grain brown rice + 3/4 cup water to boil

1/2 cup raw short grain calrose rice + 1 cup water & 1 cup tomato juice to boil

1 cup water

2 faux beef bouillon cube

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp liquid hickory smoke
1 cup TVP granules

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

3/4 cup minced or grated onions

4 cloves garlic, pressed

1 Tbsp garlic or onion powder

2 Tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika

2 tsp hot Hungarian paprika

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

Cook the 2 rices seperately, and make sure the grains are very plump - almost overcooked. Keep in mind, unlike traditional meat cabbage rolls, the rice will not cook any further once mixed into the seitan. The calrose rice might need a little extra water here and there, and will look like a large glutinous mess once completely cooked (this is a good thing, helps bind together the other ingredients). Just make sure the bottom doesn't scorch, simmer gently and keep an eye on it.

 

While the rice is cooking, bring the water, bouillon, soy sauce and liquid smoke to a boil. Add in the TVP, stir, remove from heat and allow the mixture to sit long enough to absorb the water. Fry the onion in oil until well cooked, add in the rices, TVP and remaining seasonings. Stir well to combine, and put aside. Once the mixture is cooled completely, stir in the gluten. The mixture will appear dry - resist the temptation to add liquid! Just keep stirring until it starts to bind together.

You're ready to start stuffing your cabbage! Take a scoop of filling, I use about 1/3 cup, and knead the filling in your hands until the gluten is well worked in and firms up a little. Flatten the ball into a flat oval, and place on your cabbage leaf. Bring the bottom up over the filling, fold over the left side and then the right. Now pull the top over, and use toothpicks to keep in place (see pics). Finish stuffing the remaining cabbage leaves until the remaining of the filling is used up. If you have any remaining cabbage, slice it up into thin pieces.

1 large tin tomato juice
1 each faux beef and faux chicken bouillon cube
1 1/2 cup sauerkraut

Take a large pot, and layer some of the leftover cabbage and sauerkraut on the bottom. Add several of the cabbage rolls. Continue layering until the cabbage slices, sauerkraut and cabbage rolls are all used up. Disolve the bouillon cubes in a little water, and pour into pot along with tomato juice. Add enough water to cover cabbage rolls. Cover and let simmer for about 45 minutes. Turn heat off. Serve as is, or remove cabbage rolls to a seperate dish if using the sour cream to thicken the sauce.

3/4 cup sour cream, optional

If using sour cream, it must be 'tempered' before adding to the pot of hot tomato sauce so that it doesn't seperate. Gently stir in a few spoonfuls of sauce into the sour cream. Once blended, add a few more tablespoons, and a few more until the sour cream is soupy and warmed up. Pout into pot, stirring quickly. Warm gently, do not boil.

When ready to serve, ladle a large spoonful of sauce on to a plate and top with a couple of the cabbage rolls. Yum!!!

Per roll: 219 cals, 6g fat, 25g carbs, 587mg sodium, 6g fiber, 17g protein.  (PRO65.8/30%,CHO101/46%,FAT52.4/24%)

Hungarian Zebratorta - chocolate banana zebra cake

I stumbled across Zebratorta while researching Hungarian foods, and was intrigued by the unique design of white and chocolate "zebra stripes" pattern in the cake batter. In my version of this recipe, I veganized it by using bananas in place of eggs. Not traditional, I know, but it really did the trick! Zebratorta is relatively simple to make, and delectable.
...mmmm...cake

Makes 12 servings. Unless of course you love cake, and then you'll probably eat 2-3 servings at once, like I did. For breakfast.

There are several versions of this recipe, some baked directly in the pan and some baked into a sweet crust, kind of like an open-faced pie. I'm trying to limit extra fat and calories - yes, I realize this is a post for cake, but a girl can't survive on veggies alone - so I opted for a simple recipe baked directly in the cake tin. Here's where things got tricky...cutting back on fat in Hungarian cooking and baking is questionable. Well, my grandmother would certainly question it. Fat, after all, is flavor. And, the original recipe called for 5 eggs, seperated so the whites could be beaten to fluffy peaks. Replicating the texture while also cutting back on oil was a challenge, but I think the results were quite successful!

2 large bananas
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 1/2 cups milk of choice
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 2/3 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa

Heat oven to 360 degrees, and grease and flour a round baking tin, removable bottom if possible (but not necessary). Mash bananas in a mixing bowl, add sugar, milk, vanilla and oil. Blend with handmixer or whisk vigorously for 2-3 minutes to emulsify the oil. In a seperate bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Add liquid to dry ingredients, and blend well enough to ensure lumps are removed. Pour 1/2 of the batter back into the other bowl. Add cocoa to one of the bowls, and again blend well enough to ensure batter is smooth.

Now you're ready to start creating your zebra pattern in the baking tin! It's very simple. Using large spoons, seperate ones for each batter, start with the cocoa batter and scoop about 1/3 cup. Drop in the middle of the tin. It will start to spread out a little - don't worry, this is a good thing. Next, take a scoop of the white batter and drop it in the center of the cocoa batter that's already sitting in the tin. Keep alternating between cocao and white batters, allowing the

batter to keep spreading and spreading outwards in the pan. If the batter is a little on the thick side, after you have all of your zebra layers in the tin you can gently shake it to help the batter cover the entire bottom of the pan.

Don't worry if the pattern isn't elegant, the end result will be unique-looking and yummy! Bake for 30-40 minutes, the top will brown quickly but be sure to test with a toothpick to ensure the center is cooked. Store in a covered container.

Per slice: 260 cals, 7g fat, 45g carbs, 12mg sodium, 2g fiber, 5g protein.  (PRO7%,CHO68%,FAT25%)