I love ethnic foods.. foods that are not the usual fare... recipes that are passed from one generation to the next... this is one of them.. my Grandparents made this.. both sides of the family... and so did my Mother... and I did as well...
This recipe is for a cottage cheese mixture ….something I call Hungarian Cottage Cheese…. I couldn’t begin to translate what we call it…. even my Mother was stumped… so for lack of anything better… I call it Hungarian Cottage Cheese…. it’s something my family has made all my life… actually before I was born… I don’t know where it originated or even how or why these ingredients were put together… but I grew up eating it and loving it.
Growing up we ate it a lot in the summer… with fresh Italian bread… My Mother and I serve it with crackers sometimes too.
Like typical Hungarians… we like things with a little zip to it… especially my Father… so it uses paprika… what would a Hungarian dish be without paprika?
It has four basic ingredients… cottage cheese, sour cream, onion (usually diced green onions … I also use diced red onion sometimes… as I did for the picture above) and paprika.
TIPS
The paprika can be any paprika you chose… I use a combination of hot and sweet Hungarian paprika…. the quantities listed are a suggestion.. you need to make it to your tastes…. so add as much or as little as you want.
As for the quantities of sour cream and cottage cheese.. these too.. are flexible… I like the tang of the sour cream with the slight sweetness of the cottage cheese… use my quantities as a guide and make it to your tastes.
The picture above doesn’t do it justice.. it has a slight pink color to it… because of the paprika.
This recipe serves four or makes a great munchie with crackers.
I hope you try this.. it really is delicious… makes for a great munch on a hot summer night.
Recipe: Hungarian Cottage Cheese
All you need:
1 (8 ounces) container cottage cheese
1 cup sour cream
¼ - ½ cup chopped green or red onion (to taste)
½ teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika (to taste)
¼ teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika (to taste)
All you have to do:
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and serve with fresh bread or crackers.
Save about a tablespoon of the chopped onion for garnish on the top.
Linda, my mother was Hungarian, actually born in Hungary. But unfortunately, my grandmother and mother were not the best cooks. And the only ethnic recipe I ever remember, is when my grandmother would make pork chops paprikash. It was terrible. One of my good friends from HS was Hungarian, and her family cooked all the ethnic foods. I feel like I definitely missed out, so nice to see you have incorporated some of those old dishes to keep that ethnic heritage alive.
ReplyDeleteThanks Judy! I love ethnic foods... my background is German Hungarian and my recipe file is rich with family favorites... I haven't even scratched the surface yet... I also was close to my best friends' families so I can add french and Italian to the mix... a wonderful heritage that I'm very grateful for...
ReplyDeleteamazing that you are the great cook you are without family influences... I couldn't imagine that... many of my childhood memories center on food.. I can close my eyes sometimes and actually smell my Grandmother's kitchen.
Thanks for stopping by.
I LOVE ethic recipes so am delighted to see this here, knowing that your family loved it and still do. I'm going to bookmark this...looks too interesting to pass by. Thanks for broadening my culinary horizons and giving me something "new" to enjoy!
ReplyDeleteHugs!!
Thanks Katy!
ReplyDeleteI love everything Cottage Cheese, cheese, sour cream, spice, Hungarian, ethnic what ever. I love food, it's my favourite dish. This reminds me of something my Russian grandmother would set out on the table. I love the look of this, it brings back so many memories of my family.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this!