Which one is it, barátfüle or derelye? People talk about barátfüle and derelye interchangeably while others insist they are two completely different dishes. It turns out they are. Even the names reflect that. I was familiar with the kneaded dough version and thought the name difference was simply a regional preference. Then I discovered breaded barátfüle from potato dough. I already had a derelye recipe and henceforth I will refer to the breaded version as barátfüle. Anyway, that’s the one shaped like an ear. I made barátfüle today. For filling I used [apricot] lekvár; a slow cooked, thick fruit jam. Commercial jams and jams made with certo are much too runny for barátfüle. However making a small amount of lekvár is easy; just slow cook a bit of fresh or frozen fruit with sugar.
My barátfüle turned out completely different from what I expected. I thought the lekvár will make it overly sweet… but the potato pasta and the apricot lekvár sang in complete harmony; each part complementing the other. I was hooked. I started with three pieces… then for the rest of the afternoon I kept going back for one more.
What is Lekvár?
Since most food blogs got it wrong, what Google says about Hungarian lekvár is also wrong.
1. Lekvár is a thick jam. It does not spread or run like other jams.
2. Lekvár can be made from every fruit grown in the continental climate zone, not only plums.
3. Cannot make lekvár from prunes, aka dried fruits.
4. Lekvár can contain a small amount of fresh lemon juice, but there is no water or juice in lekvár.
FRIEND'S EAR
4 cups cooked and mashed potatoes
2 cups flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Filling:
less than 1 cup apricot lekvár
Breading:
2 Tbsp oil
1 cup fine breadcrumbs
• Cook the unpeeled potatoes until easily pierced with a knife.
• Peel and mash until smooth.
• Let it cool down completely.
• Meanwhile heat a large non stick skillet on medium heat.
• Add the oil and the breadcrumbs and give it a stir with a wooden spoon.
• The oil will clump into the breadcrumbs, but keep stirring.
• When the breadcrumbs are uniform, remove skillet from the heat and set it aside.
• The residual heat will complete the toasting and this way the breadcrumbs can stay in the skillet without burning.
• Add the flour, egg, salt, and the sugar to the cooled down mashed potatoes.
• Combine until smooth dough forms.
• Transfer the dough to a well floured surface and roll it out 1/4 inch thick.
• Using a very large cookie cutter cut circles.
• Remove the dough between the circles and set it aside for re-rolling.
• Place a chunk of thick lekvár in the middle of each circle.
• Using a small brush lightly wet the perimeter of only half of the circle.
• Fold the other half over it and press down with a finger to close forming the ear shape... [or the perogy or whatever you want to call it]
• To further reinforce the edge I like to press it down with a small fork.
• I transferred each batch of ears to a floured tray. While you work with the remaining dough you don’t want them to stick to the tray.
• Next bring a large pot of water to full rolling boil.
• With a slotted spoon one by one lower up to eight ears into the water.
• Using a fork I gently move a fork along the bottom of the pot making sure that no ear will stick to the pot.
• When all the ears come to the surface, cook three to four minutes longer.
• One by one lift them out and transfer them to the skillet with the toasted breadcrumbs immediately!
• Gently turn them over, shaking the skillet until every ear is covered with breadcrumbs.
• Repeat the cooking and rolling into the breadcrumbs until you run out of ears.
• This does not need sugar sprinkled on top; the barátfüle is perfect without it.
• My recipe yielded a total of 24 ears. For half the amount, cut the potatoes and the flour in half, but leave the rest of the ingredients as they are. Use a whole egg etc. This a forgiving dough…
