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Hungarian-style creamed greenpeas with meatballs

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Hungarian-style creamed greenpeas with meatballs

When I was a kid borsófőzelék was a quick dinner food with fried eggs. It was made “white” and sweet with parsley.

Since I live with my husband, he said that borsófőzelék is only acceptable with a lot of paprika. So I started cooking it like that and it stuck. I like it with paprika now as well.

And meatballs are a must with it.

The meatballs are seasoned like my father-in-law seasons sausage. But since my son eats with us, I started to use less salt for his meals, and last time I realized that that amount of salt is way too much and Dani’s meatball was better.

Horváth Ilona says in the cookbook that, ooh, foreigners think that all Hungarian food is in red paprika sauce. Which is not entirely true, but really close. Paprika is very important. And sour cream, for other foods. We’re getting to it.

Creamed greenpeas

Prep

20 minutes

Cook

90 minutes

Total

110 minutes

Ingredients

Creamed greenpeas

  • 1 kg frozen greenpeas
  • 1 yellow onion
  • Paprika
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Oil
  • Water
  • Flour

Meatballs

  • 1 kg minced meat
  • 19 g paprika
  • 15 g salt
  • 1 g cumin
  • 1 g pepper
  • 6 g garlic
  • Ground ginger
  • 4 breadrolls
  • 2 eggs
  • Breadcrumbs

Instructions

  1. In a pot, heat a little oil and fry the onion until translucent.
  2. Add the frozen peas, salt, pepper and a lot of paprika.
  3. Add enough water to cover the peas.
  4. Cook it until the peas are done. (They get wrinkly when it happens.) Turn off the heat after that.
  5. In a small saucepan, add a bit of oil.
  6. When it is hot, add 2 tablespoons of flour. We need to toast it.
  7. The flour is ready if it is brown and has a nice smell.
  8. Add a spoon of the cooked peas to the fried flour and mix it into a creamy texture, then add it to the creamed peas. This will thicken it.
  9. Cook the peas to the boiling point. Then turn off the heat.
  10. In the meantime we can make the meatballs.
  11. Put baking paper on a baking tray. Heat the oven to 180˚C.
  12. Soak the rolls in water. If they are not hard anymore, squeeze the water out of them and add it to the meat, along with the spices and the 2 eggs.
  13. Mix them together.
  14. Make small orbs and roll each in breadcrumbs.
  15. Put them on the baking tray and bake them in the oven.
  16. After half an hour take them out and turn each over so they bake evenly.
  17. Put them back and bake for another one to one and a half hours, until they are golden brown.