Tarhonya – tiny pieces of dried pasta made from a kneaded flour and egg dough – is an ancient type of Hungarian pasta. It is usually browned in fat and boiled. It can be served with pörkölt or other meat dishes. This recipe comes from the Hungarian Cookery Book by Károly Gundel.
Ingredients:
1 pound flour
5 or 6 eggs
Method:
“Sift the flour and knead it in a bowl with five eggs (six, if they are small),” writes Gundel. “When the dough is roughly kneaded, take it out of the bowl and continue to knead it on the baking board till perfectly smooth. Divide into a few pieces and leave it to dry a little. Then chop it up quite fine with a knife. When small enough, take a wire sieve with wide meshes, and squeeze the dough through it with the hand. What cannot be squeezed through must be chopped again and then squeezed through the sieve. Repeat till all the dough has passed through.
Let it dry for 24 hours, then put it into a fine sieve and sift. What is left in the sieve is tarhonya, and it should now be slightly browned in a pan and stored for use in a dry larder. It will keep any length of time, and will always be available for cooking purposes. What passes through the second sieve, in a powdery or mealy form, may be conveniently used for milk puddings or soufflés.”
How to Cook the Tarhonya
Ingredients:
1 onion
3 ounces lard
8 ounces tarhonya
Salt
Method:
“Fry a finely chopped onion in boiling hot fat to a golden brown, and season with a little parsley,” writes Gundel. “Put the tarhonya into the pan and pour about ten gills* of boiling water on it. Add salt and let it simmer under a lid for about 15 minutes. It must be served very hot and – if desired – a little hot fat may be stirred into it before dishing up. If ready-made tarhonya is used, it is advisable to add some paprika before the boiling water is poured in.”
* The gill is a unit of measurement for volume which is no longer in use. One gill (US) is equal to four ounces (US) and approximately 118 milliliters. One imperial gill is equal to five ounces (Imperial) and approximately 142 milliliters.
I remember eating this as a child,and it was my favourite dish.I cannot find the pre packaged Tarhonya anywhere here in Australia. I believe it is because of the high egg content,and products like Tarhonya are banned imports. I now have got the recipe from this site and will make it myself.. thank you.Very surprised to see Dobos Torta nowhere to be seen .Now THAT’S a cake…I have eaten a few in the guise of Dobos, but nothing compares to the ones I ate as a child from a Hungarian Bakery in Brisbane..I did not even see a authentic looking one when I was in Hungary late last year.I guess it is too labour intensive to make these days.. Irene
I tried this preparation method with Bende Hungarian Pasta that is pre-made and available on-line: http://www.bende.com/ecommerce/catalog.cfm?cat=9
I used butter instead of ‘lard’ but otherwise the measures were perfect. Very good!