Sunday, October 19, 2008

My first Madártej (Hungarian floating islands)

Whenever we return to my in-laws, my m.i.l make this delicious Hungarian dessert for us. Although I love the dessert, I resisted from making it at home because I didn't want to know the calories which go inside it. But I was craving it very much today! So, I quickly checked online for a recipe. It is a good thing to know that it requires simple ingredients which is easily available at home and not as high-calorie as I thought.

As I am typing this, the floating island is still being chilled in the fridge. I did have a small sample of it. It is definitely not as good as my m.i.l's. oh well...it is my first attempt after all.

I found the process of boiling the beaten egg-white (island) a bit too delicate for me to handle; which created a mess. The "island" tasted salty ; while the milk is not thick enough ..may be it is due to that I halved the recipe... However, I do see myself making this again :) Just that I won't be serving it to any Hungarian guests soon..haha.

If made right, the island should be firm and light and the milk should have a consistency of light cream and give a scent of vanilla.

Madártej (Hungarian floating islands)
recipe from here

Ingredients for 6 portions: (I halved the recipe)

1 l milk
4 eggs
100 g + 2 spoonfuls sugar *** too sweet for me
1 teaspoonful flour
1 pinch of salt
1 pod of vanilla *** you may substitute with vanilla sugar

Method :
Divide the eggs and whip the whites with the salt. When it is rather stiff add 2 spoonfuls of sugar and whip until glossy.

Warm the half of milk with the vanilla pod in a shallow saucepan and put dumplings of egg white into it with the help of a tablespoon. Boil the both sides of the dumplings for 1 minute each, then take them out on a sieve. Repeat it until all the egg whites are consumed. Don't overcrowd the pan because the dumplings grow during boiling.

Mix the egg yolks with the rest of sugar and beat until light and foamy. Add the flour, bit by bit the cold milk and in the end sieve the hot milk into it.

Boil the cream with continous stirring on low heat until thickens. Don't let it boil.

Divide immediately into small bowls and top with the white dumplings. Serve chilled.





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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Rum Balls


I have been wondering how to make the Hungarian kókusz golyó (coconut balls) for quite sometime. My search online brought me to this recipe . Looks easy enough for me. And I'm telling you now it is very easy to prepare! Just make sure you make it a day in advance of the day you plan to serve it.

I've scaled down the recipe to suit the quantity of biscuits in hand (about 110g crushed) ; which yield about 18 balls. The end result I think is quite similar to the original and B said so ,too :)

Note to self
Replaced Nice biscuits to local Győri (Albert) biscuits - scale down to 110g
Replaced sweetened condensed milk to home-made sugar syrup -50g sugar + 20ml hot water
Used essence of rum instead
Soaked raisins (sultanas) in sugar syrup, rum and vanilla extract before adding to dry ingredients.

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

My first Madártej (Hungarian floating islands)

Whenever we return to my in-laws, my m.i.l make this delicious Hungarian dessert for us. Although I love the dessert, I resisted from making it at home because I didn't want to know the calories which go inside it. But I was craving it very much today! So, I quickly checked online for a recipe. It is a good thing to know that it requires simple ingredients which is easily available at home and not as high-calorie as I thought.

As I am typing this, the floating island is still being chilled in the fridge. I did have a small sample of it. It is definitely not as good as my m.i.l's. oh well...it is my first attempt after all.

I found the process of boiling the beaten egg-white (island) a bit too delicate for me to handle; which created a mess. The "island" tasted salty ; while the milk is not thick enough ..may be it is due to that I halved the recipe... However, I do see myself making this again :) Just that I won't be serving it to any Hungarian guests soon..haha.

If made right, the island should be firm and light and the milk should have a consistency of light cream and give a scent of vanilla.

Madártej (Hungarian floating islands)
recipe from here

Ingredients for 6 portions: (I halved the recipe)

1 l milk
4 eggs
100 g + 2 spoonfuls sugar *** too sweet for me
1 teaspoonful flour
1 pinch of salt
1 pod of vanilla *** you may substitute with vanilla sugar

Method :
Divide the eggs and whip the whites with the salt. When it is rather stiff add 2 spoonfuls of sugar and whip until glossy.

Warm the half of milk with the vanilla pod in a shallow saucepan and put dumplings of egg white into it with the help of a tablespoon. Boil the both sides of the dumplings for 1 minute each, then take them out on a sieve. Repeat it until all the egg whites are consumed. Don't overcrowd the pan because the dumplings grow during boiling.

Mix the egg yolks with the rest of sugar and beat until light and foamy. Add the flour, bit by bit the cold milk and in the end sieve the hot milk into it.

Boil the cream with continous stirring on low heat until thickens. Don't let it boil.

Divide immediately into small bowls and top with the white dumplings. Serve chilled.





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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Rum Balls


I have been wondering how to make the Hungarian kókusz golyó (coconut balls) for quite sometime. My search online brought me to this recipe . Looks easy enough for me. And I'm telling you now it is very easy to prepare! Just make sure you make it a day in advance of the day you plan to serve it.

I've scaled down the recipe to suit the quantity of biscuits in hand (about 110g crushed) ; which yield about 18 balls. The end result I think is quite similar to the original and B said so ,too :)

Note to self
Replaced Nice biscuits to local Győri (Albert) biscuits - scale down to 110g
Replaced sweetened condensed milk to home-made sugar syrup -50g sugar + 20ml hot water
Used essence of rum instead
Soaked raisins (sultanas) in sugar syrup, rum and vanilla extract before adding to dry ingredients.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button