Hortobágyi Palacsinta

Ingredients

• 500 g boneless veal shoulder or chicken thigh, cut into 3 cm pieces
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp lard
• 2 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 green pointed pepper, chopped
• 400 ml chicken stock
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 150 g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 250 ml milk
• 100 ml sparkling water
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• sunflower oil, for the pan
• 300 ml sour cream
• 1 tbsp plain flour, for the sauce
• 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Before you cook

• Cut the veal into 3 cm pieces and pat them dry.
• Chop the onions finely, the tomato roughly and the green pepper into strips.
• Whisk the 150 g of flour, the eggs, the milk, the sparkling water and the quarter teaspoon of salt into a thin batter.
• Rest the crêpe batter on the counter for 30 minutes.

Steps

1. Melt the lard in a heavy casserole over medium heat.
2. Cook the chopped onions in the lard for 12 minutes, until they are soft and deep gold.
3. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the two tablespoons of paprika.
4. Return the pot to the heat, add the veal, the tomato, the green pepper, the salt and the pepper, and turn everything through the paprika fat.
5. Pour in 200 ml of the stock, cover the pot and simmer gently for 60 minutes, adding the rest of the stock whenever the pot looks dry.
6. Lift the meat out with a slotted spoon and leave the sauce in the pot.
7. Shred the cooked meat finely with two forks and moisten it with three tablespoons of the sauce.
8. Heat a 22 cm non-stick pan over medium heat and wipe it with a little oil.
9. Pour in a small ladleful of batter and swirl the pan so it coats the base thinly.
10. Cook the crêpe for 60 seconds, then flip it and cook for 30 seconds more.
11. Repeat until you have eight thin crêpes, stacking them as you go.
12. Heat the oven to 180C fan.
13. Spoon an eighth of the shredded meat along the centre of each crêpe and roll it into a cigar.
14. Lay the filled crêpes seam side down in a buttered baking dish.
15. Whisk the tablespoon of flour into the sour cream until smooth.
16. Stir the sour cream mixture into the sauce left in the casserole and warm it over low heat for 3 minutes without letting it boil.
17. Blend the sauce smooth with a stick blender and pour it over the crêpes.
18. Bake the dish for 15 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling at the edges.
19. Scatter the parsley over the top and serve two crêpes per person.