Meat-Filled Pancakes (Crepes)

Meat-Filled Crepes (Hortobágyi palacsinta)

It is savoury crepes filled with Hungarian stew (or goulash) and folded like burritos. Meat-filled crepes is called Hortobágyi palacsinta in Hungary.

The Meat-Filled Crepes (Hortobágyi palacsinta) is the symbol of socialism and usually it was made with low quality meats in the restaurants.

Hortobágy is a steppe with rich folklore and cultural history, but this food does not come from this famous region. The name of Hortobágyi palacsinta was a romantic idea from the socialism chefs or politiciens.

But I think the Meat-Filled Crepes is very good meal, if it is made from good ingredients. In fact it is a stew with pasta and they always fit together perfectly.

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Meat-Filled Crepes – Hungarian recipe

Meat-filled Crepes are savoury pancakes from Hungary. Easy to make, delicious and you can also use the leftover of stew.
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine Hungarian
Keyword crepes, leftovers, pancake
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author Myreille

Ingredients

  • 250 grams Hungarian stew (pörkölt)
  • 8-10 Hungarian pancakes (crepes)
  • 200 grams sour cream (Hungarian: tejföl)

Instructions

  • Make Hungarian stew with pork or chiken. (Recipe below.) We gererally make from leftovers of stew because a little porcion is enough.
  • Make Hungarian pancakes. (Recipe below.)
  • Place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. Pour meat sauce into the sieve and let drain. Cut the meat fine.
  • For the sauce whisk the sour cream with the drained liquid from the stew until smooth.
  • Filled the crepes with the fine cut meat and fold them up burrito style.
  • Pour the sauce over the prepared crepes.
  • Serve hot with lot of sauce.

Usually I make the Meat-filled Crepes from pork stew, but it is also very good from chicken stew.

Important! Before cut the cooked chicken meat, remove the bones.

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Hungarian Stew (Goulash/Pörkölt) Recipe

Every Hungarian family has an authentic stew recipe. This is my Hungarian Stew (Goulash/Pörkölt) recipe. We love it!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Hungarian
Keyword cheap, easy, goulash
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author Myreille

Ingredients

  • 1000 g pork (pig leg/ham or shoulder) diced
  • 2 medium onions (chopped)
  • 1 tomato (chopped)
  • 1 Sweet Hungarian yellow wax pepper (or banana pepper or red bell peppers) (chopped)
  • 1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika powder (sweet)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon oil (or pork lard)

Instructions

  • In a large pot (or a Dutch oven) sauté the chopped onion in oil over medium-high heat. Cook slowly until the onion turns clear and glassy.
  • Add the meat to the onion and cook over high heat, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink (about 5-10 minutes).
  • Remove the pot from the heat and add the paprika powder, stirring, add 2 cups water to the meat and back to the heat. Note! If the paprika powder is burn, the stew will be bitter.
  • Add the salt, tomato and yellow pepper.
  • Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the meat is cooked. (Cook for about 1,5 hours.)

Notes

If you want, put garlic, ground black pepper or carraway in the stew, but I think the simple Hungarian stew is the best. Maybe a little chili can put into it.
We eat the Hungarian stew with fresh noodle (nokedli), pasta or cooked rice.
If there is spring onions in our garden, I add chopped spring onion to my stew. Stew with spring onion is not autentic, but I like it.
Fun fact: If you mix Hungarian stew and cooked rice, you prepare an another food. This is “rizses hús” (the meat with rice). In my childhood the meat with rice was my favourite. 

The Hungarian pancakes (or crepes) isn’t too sweet. My recipe is perfect for sweet and savoury pancakes too.

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Hungarian pancake recipe

Pancakes (palacsinta) are very popular in Hungary and easier to make than you think.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Hungarian
Keyword easy, pancake, summer
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8 people
Author Myreille

Equipment

  • 1 non-stick crepe/pancake pan

Ingredients

  • 4 egg
  • 300 grams all-purpose flour
  • 700 grams whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower (or canola) oil
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

Mix the pancake's batter

  • In a large bowl mix the eggs, the sugar and the salt.
  • Add flour, milk, sugar and salt. Mix well.
  • Add oil and mix.

Cook the pancakes

  • Heat a non-stick crepe/pancake pan over medium high heat. When it is hot, pour or scoop the batter onto the pan. Using approximately a little laden (1/2 cup) for each pancake. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface. This should be a very thin coat.
  • Cook 1 to 2 minutes until pancake begin to lift from pan. Loosen with a spatula. Turn and cook the other side 1 minute.
  • The pancake is done when both sides are a light brown.
  • Repeat with remaining batter. Scoop it onto the hot pan and cook both sides of pancake.

Fill the pancakes

  • Spread each pancake with filling and roll up.

Notes

My kids eat the pancakes with cacao powder-sugar mix, Nutella or apricot jam but my favorite is the pancake with sweet quark (cottage cheese) filling.