In Transylvania, we stayed for a few days in Băile Tuşnad (Tusnádfürdő) which is a town in Harghita County, Romania. There are many Hungarians living in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania. The owner of the accommodation recommended us to an authentic Székely restaurant which serves the best beef stew I've ever tasted. Székely Marhapörkölt includes pork knuckle simply tastes delicious. It is the aromatic addition and the tenderness of the beef just makes it so delectable! Besides, the sour cream that topped the dish was so creamy and just makes it tasted so good.


Following is a video recipe for the Székely Marhapörkölt as well as the galuska or nokedli as we called it here in Hungary.







Z&Z's Road Trip to Transylvania

A not to be missed dish is the Christmas Ham. It is much of a tradition in many households. The meat 'score' in these diamond pattern makes it looked especially appetizing! Check out the video below of a Ginger Glazed Ham by Nigella Lawson.

This is the Pizza I made today for my husband. He rated it well, very well actually. So this is my very own recipe, hope you enjoy it too:

First make the pasta base :)

Ingredients: Flour, Yeast, Water, Olive Oil, Honey, Salt.

Add 5g of yeast to one teaspoon of honey, add 3 tablespoon of warm water, mix it and let it react for 10mins.

When mixture becomes fluffy, you can add 500g of flour, pinch of salt and mix them well.

When it become crumbly add water and knead it for 20mins, until it becomes the dough.

Let it rest for 30mins and punch down the puff up pasta and divide it into two parts.

Roll it down to two doughs (one for each pasta base).

Add oil and let it rest for another hour.

Flatten it with your palm or roll it to the thickness you like, adding some flour every now and then so it won't stick to your hands.

For the pasta sauce :)

Ingredients: Onions, Tomatoes puree, oregano, salt.

With two large onions, diced them and fry in olive oil til translucent.

Add one can of Pomodoro sauce (Italian tomatoes are longish types, very juicy and delicious) :)

Add half a cup of water and simmer til the fragrant of the pizza sauce fills your entire kitchen :)

Add fresh oregano and salt. Let it cool down before adding to the pizza base.

Add toppings: in this pizza photo above, Hungarian Kolbasz (Smoked sausage), Trappista cheese, cherry tomatoes and some minced garlic are added. You can top it with whatever you prefer.

There were some ham slices in this one too ;)

Bake it for 8 mins at 200 deg Celsius, when ready top it with Rucola. And enjoy!

If you would to see how to make the dough from scratch with raw ingredients, here's a video to share:

I love these Hungarian Walnut Rolls and this time of the year it is a 'must-eat' :) Many people like the poppy seeds (Mákos Beigli). Here's a video of how it is made :)