Savory Hungarian Stuffed Pancakes: Hortobágyi Palacsinta

Slight update to "Word History" 8-14-22

This crepe-like stuffed pancake dish is called "Hortobágyi Palacsinta," in Hungarian. It is often made with veal, but other meat is not uncommonly used, especially ground pork, which is what I often use. Chicken is also commonly used, but it is not always ground chicken, but rather pieces of chicken are cooked as part of the stew, then the meat is taken off of the bones and chopped to the desired size. Of course, you can make the pancakes using a smaller skillet (like 6 inch) up to a large skillet (like 12 inch skillet), or something in between, which is what I do, as I generally use a 9 inch skillet. 

Ingredients:

Stew:

1 pound ground pork (or ground veal)
1 medium onion, chopped (smaller type pieces)
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, with some of the juice
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
2/3 to 1 teaspoon salt
2/3 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons sweet paprika (preferably Hungarian, but use what you have)
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons olive oil

sauce:

1 cup sour cream
1 cup broth from the meat preparation
3 to 4 tablespoons flour

for the crepes:

1 cup flour
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
oil or butter for frying

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and let cook for a couple of minutes, then add the ground meat. Keep breaking up the meat as it cooks with the onion, as you don't want large chunks of meat in the filling. When the onions are softened, add the tomatoes, the caraway, salt, pepper and paprika, and mix well. Add the broth and continue to simmer the stew for about 20 to 25 minutes. Strain the stew using a sieve.

Put the strained broth into a pan over medium low heat. Mix the flour with a little water and whisk it into the broth. Let the mixture cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the thickened broth from the heat and let it sit for a few minutes, then whisk in the sour cream.

In a skillet (preferably non-stick), add a little oil or melt some butter over low heat. In a bowl, mix together the flour, eggs, milk and salt. Add enough batter to the heated skillet to form a thin crepe-like pancake. Let the crepe cook until the liquid is no longer runny on top, then turn the crepe over. Both sides of the crepe should be lightly browned.  

Put a couple of tablespoons of the meat mixture into each pancake (crepe). Tuck in the sides and roll up the palacsinta around the filling. Serve the palacsinta with the sour cream sauce over them, or put the filled pancakes into a baking dish, pour the sour cream sauce over them and bake at 350 F for about 12 to 15 minutes, then serve.

 Served with a small green salad of kale, tomato and red onion ....

WORD HISTORY:
Hinder-The ultimate origin of this verb (and sometime adjective) is uncertain, "perhaps" going back to Indo European "kom," which meant, "beside, near, together, by;" but I'm not totally convinced of this. Whatever the source, "hinder" does go back to Old Germanic "hindronan," which meant, "to put to the back, to keep back, to keep to the rear." This gave Old English the verb "hindrian," which meant, "to hold back, to obstruct, to impede or prevent advance." Later condensed to "hinder." The adjective use shows reference to "behind, in the rear, in the back." Other Germanic relatives (verb forms): German has "hindern" (prevent, hamper, impede), Low German Saxon "hinnern" (stop, hold in, hold back), Dutch "hinderen" (hamper, hold back, keep back from), Swedish "hindra" (prevent, keep back, hold in). This was all I could find, but Old Norse seems to have had "hindra" and Frisian once had "hinderia." By the way, German has the derived noun, "Hindernis," meaning, "barrier, obstacle," with the obvious tie to the verb, and English has the noun, "hindrance," originally spelled "hinderance," which dates to the mid 1400s. It is one of those mixed words, with "hinder," an English word derived from Germanic, with the "ance" suffix from French, from Latin "antia/entia."