It was a hot summer morning in May when we'd to set out to explore the city of Buda and Pest with our lovely lady guide. Just a couple of minutes into the tour, I'd already started taking pit stops for buying fresh raspberries and blueberries (my favourite snack) and checking out store fronts of cute cafes and pastry shops for something unique to try, putting my friends in mild panic when I suddenly went out of sight only to return with a tiny box of berries in my hand and a wide grin of satisfaction slapped across my face! :D
To be honest, I wasn't quite paying a 100% attention to our guide while she shared stories and insights about the historic facts of the city, so I won't be able to share much details on that front. After the walking tour came to an end, in between which I'd already munched on berries, checked out a few pastry shops and relished a delicious gelato, my friends and I went straight to a local street food joint to relish the Hungarian speciality called Lángos.
All the countries I've been to so far have had their share of national (and more often than not even regional varieties of) bread, which forms an integral part of their staple diet. Be it the crusty German brotchen rolls, the slender French baguette, the braided Swiss zopf or the fluffy Middle Eastern pita, they all come to form with the most basic ingredients found in any pantry - flour, water, salt, sugar and yeast.
And while breads like baguette and pita have widespread popularity and universal acceptance, the lesser known classics, like the lángos we had in Budapest, are definitely worth a try!
LÁNGOS - pronounced as 'laang-gosh', is a Hungarian street food found not only in Hungary but also in other Hungarian-speaking countries in Eastern Europe like Romania and Serbia. This rustic deep fried bread is made using pantry staples like flour, water, salt, sugar and yeast, and sometimes contains the addition of boiled mashed potatoes. The dough is portioned and each portion is then stretched by hand before frying, the center usually kept thinner than the sides. Best eaten immediately, we relished the one topped with sour cream and a generous helping of grated cheese.
Having grabbed our plate of freshly fried deliciousness, we made ourselves comfortable on a nearby green patch covered in a cool shade from the surrounding trees, a respite from the mid-afternoon heat.
Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, with a slight tang from the sour cream off set by the creamy cheese, it was hard to stop at just one bite! The entire plate was finished within minutes between the three of us and even though we were full, I craved for just another bite of this carb-rich deliciousness!
Some flavours, even though very basic, stick with you. So after coming back I was itching to experiment and make my sis and parents taste this fried bread. My sister LOVED the slightly chewy texture of this bread while my parents thought it could do with some more seasoning. Hence, I'm sharing an improvised recipe here adapted for Indian palate. Feel free to add/omit the herbed butter layer or top the lángos with stir fry veggies or even sautéed mushrooms if you feel like! Whatever you do, I'd love to see you creation! :)
LÁNGOS (serves 4-6) (Recipe loosely adapted from: Zserbo)
For the dough:
All purpose flour 250 g
Potato, boiled and mashed 100 g Yeast 6 g
Sugar 4 g
Salt 5 g
Milk 20 g
Water 75 g (use as required)
Oil for frying (Canola preferred)
For the topping:
Sour cream 200 g
Garlic, finely grated 3 cloves
Salt and pepper as per taste
Cheese, grated as per taste (I like to use Cheddar, you can use any)
- Mix the sour cream with seasonings and keep ready. Grate cheese and keep ready.
For the herbed butter: (Not traditional but adds great flavour!)
Butter 50 g
Mixed herbs 1/2 tsp
Chilli flakes 1/4 tsp (optional)
- Heat the butter till melted and add herbs and chilli flakes. Cover and let the butter infuse for at least an hour.
Method:
For the dough: Add all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl of your stand mixer along with milk and 70 g water and knead using the dough hook.
Add more water if the dough is dry, and keep kneading for 5 minutes.
If kneading by hand, you might have to knead for a total of about 7-10 minutes, till you get a roughly smooth dough ball.
Cover the dough with cling film or a damp kitchen towel and let it rise for about an hour, till double in size.
Deflate it and portion the dough equally into 5 parts (or 10 parts if you prefer smaller lángos like I do)
In the meanwhile, heat oil in a heavy bottom pot.
Stretch each portion of dough by hand, keeping the sides a little thicker than the center.
Once the oil is hot, drop the shaped dough in one by one and cook till golden brown on each side over medium-low flame.
Drain on paper towel and brush with some melted herbed butter. (optional)
Serve immediately with a topping of sour cream and generous helping of grated cheese. Bon appetit! Take a look at how your lángos should look and sound like -
I hope you enjoy making this and it brings you and your family as much joy as it did to mine! I'd LOVE to see your creations, share with me on instagram or facebook!
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