Hungarian bean soup

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 pork knuckle(s), fresh
• salt and pepper
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbsp paprika powder, sweet
• 300 g beans, white or brown, dried
• 4 carrots
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 onion(s)
• some vinegar
• Ribbon noodles or dumpling dough

Instructions

Working time approx. 25 minutes; Rest time approx. 12 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 12 hours 55 minutes

like my mom from Hungary always made

Place the pork knuckle in a pan with 2 liters of water, salt, pepper, a bay leaf, just 1 tablespoon of paprika, and 3 of the garlic cloves and bring to a boil. When the meat is tender, depending on its size, let it cool completely and then skim off the fat (this should be done the day before). Also the day before, soak the beans overnight in plenty of cold water. The next day, cook the beans with the peeled, finely chopped carrots and the finely chopped onion in the pork knuckle water until tender. Then, using the skimmed fat, sauté the remaining 2 crushed garlic cloves, the flour, and 1 tablespoon of paprika, make a dark roux, and pour over the bean water. Stir everything into the bean soup, along with the finely chopped meat, and season again with salt and pepper if desired. An absolute must with this dish is either tagliatelle pasta or dumpling dough, which is formed into a roll and then cut into slices with a crisscross pattern. At the very end, a small splash of vinegar is added to the top of the dish and then stirred in. This makes the beans more digestible. Like so many dishes in Hungary, it’s more of a filling stew.