Grandma's Hungarian Lángos

This popular Hungarian street food is definitely not sliming and it’s not meant to be! A staple recipe made by my Hungarian grandmother and usually enjoyed in moderation on Friday night dinners, lángos (pronounced langosh) is cost effective, easy to make and of course, utterly delicious.

My grandmother told me the word lángos comes from the Hungarian word láng meaning flame and was traditionally baked quickly by the flames on the front edge of the brick ovens on days new bread was being baked.

Instead of the creative toppings available today like sour cream with grated cheese and garlic, they would simply enjoy it smeared with lard for breakfast.

Nowadays lángos is deep-fried, can be found at street stalls to festivals across Central Europe, and even in Byron Bay!

If you’re a purist like my family is, do no more than rub a clove of garlic and sprinkle some salt on it.

Enjoy lángos as a starter for when guests arrive accompanied by drinks or instead of bread to accompany a hearty, wintery soup to soak up the good stuff.

Trust me when I say this crispy, golden cloud is more than just fried dough. But of course you will just have to try it for yourself to figure that out.

*Makes about 20 depending on the size (2-3 lángos per person)

Ingredients:

• 500g flour, plus extra for dusting

• 1 satchel dried yeast

• Pinch of sugar

• salt

• 1-2 cups luke warm water

• Vegetable, Canola or Rice bran oil for frying

• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and halved.

Method:

To make the starter, mix the yeast, sugar, tsp flour and ½ cup luke warm water until dissolved and becomes like a soft, thick paste.

Leave the starter in a warm place to rise for about 10 -15 minutes and until it gets foamy.

Place flour in a big bowl, make a well and pour the yeast mix into it. Have salted luke warm water handy and using a wooden spoon combine with the flour and yeast mix until it becomes like a soft bread dough that should be smooth and springy to touch. Or if using a mixer with a dough hook, on a slow speed add the luke warm water gradually to flour yeast mix beating until the dough comes away from the side of the bowl. If the dough is too firm, add more water or if it is too soft, add flour.

Sprinkle some flour on a the dough, cover it with a tea-towel and put in a warm place to rise for up to two hours, depending on the temperature, or until it has doubled in size.

Once it has risen, cut into smaller bun size rounds, lay on floured wooden board and set aside to rise for ½ an hour more.

Get a pan ready deep enough for deep-frying with plenty of oil in it so the lángos can float.

Once the rounds are ready, heat the oil. Meanwhile, using your fingers, spread each small dough into flat circle or oval shapes about palm size and roughly ½ cm thick. Make sure it isn’t too thick as the dough won’t cook through when fried.

Once the oil is hot enough, slowly add the lángos dough to the pan, it should start to bubble as you slide it in. You can fit about 5 in at once. Fry until each side is golden brown, using tongs to turn them over. Transfer to paper towel to drain excess oil.

Serve warm accompanied by a small bowl of halved garlic cloves and salt. Generously rub each side of the sun-kissed lángos with some garlic followed by a good sprinkling of salt.