Mar 21, 2011
Almost like mom's. I made a few changes to what I remember being in the dish as a child. I halved the recipe. Skipped the bacon and opted to use canola oil instead of the bacon grease. Sauteed onion, a few cloves of minced garlic, handful each of frozen diced green and red bell pepper. Added the diced pork (used a 1/4-1/2 pork loin roast, relatively lean) then tossed in the seasonings, including a beef bouillon cube for the beef broth. I also squeezed in a generous teaspoon or two of sweet red (bell?) pepper paste. Let it cook down until pork was nearly fully cooked. Added the can of diced tomatoes and water mixed with enough browned flour to thicken (this is the liquid part used combined with the beef bouillon cube to replace the beef broth). I let this practically come to a rolling boil and 'simmered' for about 30 minutes then added half a small container of sour cream and 2-3 generous shakes of Parmesan. Lowered the heat to a light simmer, just enough to meld the cheese and sour cream into the sauce. Served over linguine (not traditional, but that's all we had) and had the shaker on the side if anyone wanted extra cheese (you could say the addition of the Parmesan is an American touch/take on the dish). I'm half Hungarian, and this is comfort food at its best (for me, at least!). As a side note, there are two types of Hungarian paprika- The 'hot' being spicy, and 'edes' being mild (not spicy). It is still different from regular grocery paprika.
—RMSR
