Recipe - Hungarian Lentil Soup

1 pound Dried lentils; washed and
picked over, drained well
One fourth cup Lard; bacon drippings or oil
2 md Onions; chopped
1 Parsnip or parsley root;
chopped
2 md Carrots;, cut or sliced up
1 cup Sliced celery
8 cup Water
1 teaspoon Salt; or to taste
Several whole black
peppercorns
2 Whole cloves
2 Bay leaves
1 lg Potato;, peeled and grated
2 lg Or 4 small sausage links
(prick skins with; fork)
2 tablespoon Good vinegar

In a large pot, heat fat and add carrots, root vegetables and onions. Saute
until onions are golden. Add lentils, water, celery, and seasonings. Grate
the potato into the mixture and add sausage. Simmer covered 1 hour until
lentils and vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaves. Add vinegar just
before serving and adjust salt. Serve with a crusty bread and salad.

Mongol Soup If you add one can of tomato paste and two cans of water to the
above soup and puree it, you will have made another soup called Mongo Soup.
Try it, it is good.

NOTES : Hungarian soups are usually served in the fall and winter months.
When ever I make a large pot of soup in winter, the steam always condenses
on the windows. I then always think of a remote memory I have of playing by
a low window, water running down in little rivulets, and shadowy forms
passing by single file on the other side of the window, and the wonderful
smell of soup cooking. When I asked my mother about the memory she said
that my paternal grandmother had died in January 1936, and family and
guests were coming back from the cemetery after the burial. It was frigid
out and Hungarian soup, bread and Strudel was made to feed the frozen
mourners. I was two years old and that faint memory has stayed with me for
my whole life. Never a separate course by itself, but always the main
course. This is another one of those hearty Peasant soups that is a
complete meal by itself. Serve it with some crusty bread, a chunk of cheese
and a dark beer. Serve in a large bowl steaming ho
Recipe by: June Meyer

Posted to recipeludigest by "Crane C. Walden" cranew@foothill.net on Feb
6, 1998