Like it or not, you must eat LENCSEFŐZELÉK on New Year’s Day. Lentils symbolise prosperity, wealth and luck for the new year.

Although it’s an international dish – as is the new year’s custom to start the year with lentil soup – the Hungarian recipe contains a few new elements, in line with the general principles of Hungarian cooking methods. First of all, FŐZELÉK (an untranslatable word) is neither a soup nor is it a stew, but somewhere inbetween. The ingredients – apart from salt and pepper – include a bay leaf, garlic, paprika, vinegar, sour cream and of course the roux. The non-vegetarian version demands bacon skin and smoked pork knuckle together with anything smoked – preferably pork.
You are welcome to concoct your own version based on this very educational 1:27-length video clip made by Apróséf, a most popular recipe portal. Unfortunately, only in Hungarian, but an excellent vocabulary exercise for learners of Hungarian. Should you be lost with the terminology, drop us an email!

Jó étvágyat. Bon appetit. Enjoy.
Good luck for the new year,

the Fungarian Team