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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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mom and grandma also prepares very good and creamy madártej, but they never put salt and flour at all.
Egg whites they simply beat with about 1 tablespoon sugar.
They boil ALL the milk, cook the eggwhite foam in it the same way as you did. Once the foam is done, they put the vanilla sugar or vanilla in it. In between they mix the egg yolk with sugar and little bit of milk, then they pour this into the boiling milk, then cook it on low flame, until it's bit thicker.
As I realized, if you keep it in fridge for more time, it will get more and more creamy.

Anonymous said...

thanks for your ypur valuable time to type this Ági! I'll certainly be trying your version soon :)

Anonymous said...

:)
May I ask you which country are you from? You have so much international recipes.. but I don't know which are your own nation's dishes.

Anonymous said...

Ági,
I'm Malaysian of Chinese heritage. I grew up with my mom's chinese (cantonese) cooking. My dad learnt a curry or two.
While we mainly eat at home, we do eat out quite often since cheap eats are abundance in our country. Other races usually invite friens to their homes during festivities where one get to experience diff. kind of tastes.
So, we get to sample cuisines of Malay, Indian, Other chinese regional cuisines etc
Also, Malaysia being a former british colony, we have English influenced dishes.
Then much later came the big fast foods, coffee chains, european style restaurants...There was even one Hungarian restaurant which I tried!

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.





AddThis Social Bookmark Button

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mom and grandma also prepares very good and creamy madártej, but they never put salt and flour at all.
Egg whites they simply beat with about 1 tablespoon sugar.
They boil ALL the milk, cook the eggwhite foam in it the same way as you did. Once the foam is done, they put the vanilla sugar or vanilla in it. In between they mix the egg yolk with sugar and little bit of milk, then they pour this into the boiling milk, then cook it on low flame, until it's bit thicker.
As I realized, if you keep it in fridge for more time, it will get more and more creamy.

Anonymous said...

thanks for your ypur valuable time to type this Ági! I'll certainly be trying your version soon :)

Anonymous said...

:)
May I ask you which country are you from? You have so much international recipes.. but I don't know which are your own nation's dishes.

Anonymous said...

Ági,
I'm Malaysian of Chinese heritage. I grew up with my mom's chinese (cantonese) cooking. My dad learnt a curry or two.
While we mainly eat at home, we do eat out quite often since cheap eats are abundance in our country. Other races usually invite friens to their homes during festivities where one get to experience diff. kind of tastes.
So, we get to sample cuisines of Malay, Indian, Other chinese regional cuisines etc
Also, Malaysia being a former british colony, we have English influenced dishes.
Then much later came the big fast foods, coffee chains, european style restaurants...There was even one Hungarian restaurant which I tried!