I have no bad memories of Finom Főzelék. It must be that my grandmother didn’t care for it, because she never made it for us, not even in kohlrabi season. No, my torment was her stuffed kohlrabi; no matter how much we complained as soon as there was kohlrabi she made the dreaded dish. Now I love kohlrabi in all sorts of ways just not stuffed with ground pork. I still don’t… I think. I don’t know I never tried to make it. But I digress. The first time I heard of finom főzelék we were standing around in the courtyard of our apartment building chatting away with neighbours. One lady said she made “finom főzelék”. I asked her what it was. She said, carrots, kohlrabi and green peas made into főzelék. And that it was “finom”, which translates into tasty. I remember thinking thank God we didn’t have to eat that at our house! Being a kid, mixing stuff wasn’t appealing, if two different foods touched on the plate I couldn’t eat it.
My husband grows very nice kohlrabi in our garden, so eventually I tried making finom főzelék. It was surprisingly good, we really like it with fasirt. Tender young kohlrabi and garden fresh carrots are a must! I use frozen peas though, [never ever canned] because by the time the kohlrabi is ready the green peas are long gone. This is how I make finom főzelék, I put no corn in it [no corn!] and the thought of making it from frozen mixed vegetables with the limp green beans makes me want to run for the hills. Finom főzelék has to be the old way or not.
TASTY VEGETABLE STEW
2 cups diced carrots2 cups diced kohlrabi
2 cups frozen green peas
water
roux from 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp flour
1 fresh parsley sprig, finely chopped
• Clean and peel the carrots and the kohlrabi.
• Chop into uniform bite sized chunks.
• Add to a medium pot.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Add water to just cover the vegetables.
• Bring to a boil and reduce to a slow steady simmer.
• Cover the pot and cook the vegetables until almost tender.
• Meanwhile make the roux.
• Melt the butter in a non stick fry pan.
• Stir in the flour and cook until flour is a golden color. Set aside.
• When the vegetables are almost done, add the frozen peas and cook for a couple of more minutes.
• Pour some of the broth into the roux and gently combine.
• Add the thickened broth back into the pot.
• Add the finely chopped fresh parsley and gently stir.
• Cover the pot and let the stew rest for 15 minutes.
• Heat through and serve.
