Halászlé
Hungary's most famous fish soup, cooked on the banks of the Danube and the Tisza and a Christmas Eve tradition in Hungary. It is a thick, fiery red broth of fish and onions, coloured with plenty of Hungarian paprika, with thick carp steaks. In the Szeged style the stock of heads and bones is pushed through a sieve, giving the soup a velvety body with no flour or cream. Two rules: the paprika is stirred into the stock before the fish goes in, because after that the soup is not stirred, and the pot with the fish is only shaken — the pieces must stay whole.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Fish stock 75 min
- Sieving 10 min
- Cooking the fish 15 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMake a stock from heads and bones
Rinse the heads, bones and tails (cut the gills out of the heads — they make it bitter). Put them in a pot with the chopped onions, green pepper and tomato, cover with water, salt and simmer over low heat for 60 minutes. Skim the foam at the start.
Ingredients: 800 g fish heads, bones and tails · 3 pcs onions · 2000 ml water · 1 pcs green pepper · 1 pcs tomato · 2 tsp salt
An hour on low heat — gills removed.Push the stock through a sieve
Push the stock together with the soft onion and meat from the heads through a sieve into a clean pot, pressing with a spoon. The bones stay behind, while the onion and meat thicken the soup. This is Szeged style — the soup is thick and cloudy, as it should be.
Ingredients: 800 g fish heads, bones and tails · 3 pcs onions · 2000 ml water · 1 pcs green pepper · 1 pcs tomato · 2 tsp salt
Through a sieve with the onion — the soup thickens itself.Prepare the carp
Cut the carp into steaks or pieces 3–4 cm wide, salt lightly and leave 10 minutes. Carp has fine bones — score fillets every 3–4 mm almost down to the skin; the cut bones soften in the soup and are much less noticeable.
Ingredients: 800 g carp, fillets or steaks · 2 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika · ½ tsp hot paprika or cayenne · 1 pcs hot chilli · 4 pcs white bread
Add the paprika off the heat
Bring the sieved stock to the boil, take the pot off the heat and stir in the sweet and hot paprika thoroughly, until there are no lumps. Do this before the fish goes in — after that the soup is not stirred. Paprika cannot scorch in a water-based stock; it turns bitter when it hits very hot fat.
Ingredients: 800 g carp, fillets or steaks · 2 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika · ½ tsp hot paprika or cayenne · 1 pcs hot chilli · 4 pcs white bread
Paprika before the fish — no stirring after that.Add the carp to the soup
Return the pot to the heat and lay the carp pieces side by side. Bring to the boil and lower the heat.
Ingredients: 800 g carp, fillets or steaks · 2 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika · ½ tsp hot paprika or cayenne · 1 pcs hot chilli · 4 pcs white bread
Simmer, shaking the pot
Simmer 10–12 minutes, until the carp is white and comes away from the bones easily. Do not stir with a spoon — shake the pot, as Hungarian fishermen do. The fish should stay in whole pieces.
Ingredients: 800 g carp, fillets or steaks · 2 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika · ½ tsp hot paprika or cayenne · 1 pcs hot chilli · 4 pcs white bread
Season
Taste and season with salt. Halászlé should be boldly paprika-flavoured and slightly hot. Those who like it hotter add slices of fresh chilli to their bowl.
Ingredients: 800 g carp, fillets or steaks · 2 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika · ½ tsp hot paprika or cayenne · 1 pcs hot chilli · 4 pcs white bread
Serve with bread
Ladle the soup into deep plates, a piece of fish per portion, and serve with white bread and hot chilli. Around Baja it is served with noodles cooked separately.
Ingredients: 800 g carp, fillets or steaks · 2 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika · ½ tsp hot paprika or cayenne · 1 pcs hot chilli · 4 pcs white bread
Before you start
Several kinds of fish
The best halászlé is made with several freshwater fish — carp, zander, catfish, pike. Each adds something different to the stock. Carp alone also makes an excellent soup, as long as it is fresh.
Baja style
In the Baja version the stock is not sieved, and matchstick-shaped noodles (gyufatészta), cooked separately, are served with the soup. It is thinner.
Storage
You can make the soup without the fish a day ahead and keep it in the fridge. Cook the fish in it just before serving — reheated fish turns dry and falls apart.
