Lángos, how Hungarians deal with the effects of pálinka

A Hungarian snack to fight your hangover: lángos.

We already gave you some tips and tricks to get rid of your hangover. But every country has its own traditional dishes to make the process go faster. We like to give you a taste of the international anti-hangover cuisine. Now it’s time to check out a popular Hungarian snack that is supposed to win your battles against the hangover. This fried bread with garlic, also known as Hungarian pizza, is called lángos.

Now Hungary might not have the same extreme drinking culture as the neighboring countries in the Balkans, still there’s enough temptation. First of all the national drink pálinka, which is a strong distillation from fruit. Kind a like rakia this drink can be made from almost any fruit. Most popular flavors are plum, apricot, pear, apple and cherry. Besides pálinka Hungary produces a lot of good wines as well as some decent beers, of which Soproni is the most well known.

Hungary also strongly holds on to it’s traditions. There are countless local festivals with traditional customs, clothes, dances and rituals. Needless to say some of the local alcoholic specialties are also part of the festivities. A snack that is believed to cure the hangover is lángos, here’s how to make it from scratch.

Ingredients:
1 large potato
2,5 teaspoons instant yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
210 grams flour
1 table spoon sunflower oil
1 teaspoon salt
half a cup of milk
4 cloves of garlic

Preparation:
Boil the potato for about 20 minutes, then peel it and mash it in a bowl. While the mashed potato is still warm, add the yeast, sugar, flour, oil, salt and milk. Mix the whole thing properly. Take it out of the bowl and knead it for about 5 minutes, until it’s elastic. Than place it in a new greased bowl.
Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size. Then separate it in 4 portions and leave them in round shapes on a floured board and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Now heat up some sunflower or canola oil in a frying pan. Stretch the dough until it has a diameter of around 20 centimeter and make a slit in the middle. Now fry both sides in the pan until they show a golden brown color. Then let them drain on paper towels.
Rub the fried bread with the garlic cloves and sprinkle with salt. If you want you can include toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese, onion rings or bacon.

Micky Bumbar

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