Bryndzové halušky so slaninou are a staple of Slovak cuisine that is sure to please lovers of savory dishes. Made from grated potatoes and enriched with fresh bryndza made from goat's milk, the whole process of preparing them is very quick and easy. With this recipe, you can have this Slovak national dish on the table in less than an hour. So, will you try it?
What is Bryndza?
I know these paragraphs are unnecessary for many Slovaks. But I have to devote a few lines to bryndza. Bryndza is a cheese that is known for its smell and taste. The product contains at least 50% goat's milk and is therefore often referred to as goat cheese. The strong aroma of bryndza is not the only characteristic of this cheese. Its consistency has already impressed many foreigners. Thanks to its saltiness, many people use it as a spread (in combination with other products), a topping for osúch, a main ingredient in soups, or as a filling - for example, in pierogi. Bryndza is a very popular white cheese in Central and Western Europe.
Traditional Bryndzové Halušky Recipe
Halušky can be prepared in several ways: flour halušky, semolina halušky, or potato halušky. For high-quality homemade bryndzové halušky, you only need freshly grated potatoes.
Ingredients:
- Potatoes
- Plain flour
- All-purpose flour
- Egg
- Salt
- Bryndza cheese
- Sour cream
- Bacon
Preparation:
- Peel the potatoes and wash them in water. Grate the potatoes into small pieces on a fine grater.
- Transfer the grated potatoes to a bowl, add all-purpose flour, egg, plain flour, and salt.
- Mix the mixture with clean hands and knead into a dough. Once the dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl, you can move on to the next step. If the dough is too thick, add a little water.
- Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Prepare a haluškovač or cutting board.
- When the water starts to bubble, place the haluškovač on the pot and add a smaller amount of dough to it. Use a spoon to start pressing the dough and move from side to side so that small pieces of dough fall into the water. If you don't have a haluškovač, you can use a cutting board and cut the dough into small pieces. For best results, cut into 1 x 1 cm or smaller.
- Cooked halušky will float to the surface. Remove them from the water and place them on an oiled baking sheet to prevent them from sticking together. Continue until all the dough is cooked.
- In a bowl, mix the bryndza and sour cream. I recommend adding all the bryndza and adding sour cream to taste.
- Finally, cut the bacon into small pieces and add to a small heated pot with oil or fat. Fry until the bacon pieces shrink and brown.
- Finally, add the halušky to a plate, add the bryndza mixture, and sprinkle with bacon.
Low Carb Bryndzové Halušky
A low-carb version of halušky with fried crispy bacon and creamy cheese sauce tastes very similar to classic bryndzové halušky. The sauce is a combination of cheese and cream, so it perfectly complements the vegetable halušky and makes the dish filling and nutritious. An excellent lunch or dinner when we are in a hurry or don't feel like cooking for a long time.
Ingredients:
- Cauliflower
- Bacon
- Heavy cream
- Bryndza cheese or cream cheese
- Dried garlic
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Grated hard cheese
- Fresh parsley
Preparation:
- For this low-carb version of halušky, I use cauliflower, which we divide into small pieces and cook in salted water until soft (ideally al dente).
- Fry the bacon in a pan until crispy and chop into small pieces.
- Prepare the sauce and pour it over the still warm cauliflower, which we sprinkle with pieces of bacon.
- Wash the cauliflower and divide it into smaller florets. I recommend not using the stem and setting it aside, for example, to prepare a rich broth or cauliflower rice.
- Cook the cauliflower florets in salted water for about 5-6 minutes until they soften but still hold their shape well (al dente).
- Fry the bacon in a little fat until crispy. Let it cool for a while and chop finely.
- In a small saucepan, heat the whipping cream, add bryndza or cream cheese, and whisk until melted.
- Add dried garlic, a pinch of salt, and black pepper. Stir and add grated hard cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. If necessary, dilute the sauce with a little whipping cream.
- Pour the warm cheese sauce over the cooked cauliflower florets, sprinkle with fried bacon and chopped fresh parsley.
Bryndza Spread Recipe
I got the recipe for bryndza spread from an old friend. If you don't feel like eating bryndzové halušky right now and haven't had breakfast yet, try it.
Prečítajte si tiež: Bryndzové Halušky s nemeckým nádychom
Ingredients:
- Bryndza cheese
- Butter
- Red paprika
- Crushed caraway seeds
- Red shallot
Preparation:
- Let the bryndza (I had sheep's bryndza from the market - bryndza from cow's milk is mostly sold in stores) and butter soften for a while at room temperature.
- Then mix them together until smooth, so that the spread has no lumps.
- Add a pinch of red paprika for color and crushed caraway seeds.
- Finally, mix in finely chopped onion. I had a red shallot.
- Then just spread it on bread.
Why Bryndzové Halušky?
It may seem silly to add a recipe for traditional bryndzové halušky to our food blog. But you would be surprised how many young people who are just becoming independent and moving away from their parents are looking for a recipe for halušky on the internet so that they can prepare them in their own new kitchen.
Bryndzové halušky - our pride, joy, and national dish. A dish of salaš, shepherds, and bačov. The traditional ones consist of only 5 ingredients: 100% sheep bryndza, potatoes, flour, and bacon, and of course salt. In some recipes, you may also encounter the addition of an egg, but the halušky are then harder, and in the original recipe, it most likely did not exist. It is important to use real sheep bryndza, not one that contains 50% cow's milk. However, if bryndza is too aromatic for you, you can soften its taste by mixing it with sour cream. The ratio is up to you. And you can quite freely decorate the halušky with spring onion or chives at the end. Traditionally, they are served with a glass of milk, sour milk, or žinčica. In Spiš, you can also find a version where bryndzové halušky are served on one plate together with potato-bryndza pierogi and džatky.
Tips for the Best Bryndzové Halušky
- Cut the white bacon for cracklings into cubes and start frying on a low heat in a dry pan.
- Prepare water and bring it to a boil in a larger pot. While the water is boiling, prepare the dough for the halušky.
- Grate the peeled potatoes. We will get about 400 g of net weight. Salt the grated potatoes.
- Press the halušky into salted boiling water using a haluškovač, more skilled people may be able to "throw" the halušky from a board (lopárik, denko) using a knife.
- Cook the halušky until they float to the surface. Drain and add to the bryndza, along with a little of the water in which they were cooked. Mix well.
Food and Eating Habits
It is necessary to eat and drink to survive, eating habits are also influenced by the country we live in (colder countries - more fatty products to have a lot of energy; hot countries - fruit, vegetable, liquids), each has different habits (somebody no breakfast, other large one), they are influenced by our work, lifestyle, current economic situation, current feelings… It is important to have regular meals, it would be best 5 meals a day, smaller portions. Usually we eat 3 meals a day (light breakfast, lunch, dinner).
- Breakfast: Most people drink a coffee to wake themselves up, or have a light breakfast (bread with butter, cheese or toast with jam, juice, milk, yogurt, muesli, fruit… Traditional English breakfast - big fry-up (fried bacon, eggs, fried bread, buttered toast, bread + butter + marmalade, fried tomatoes, sausages, baked beans, tea/coffee), traditional American breakfast (fruit juice, eggs, bacon/sausage, toasts), to have a breakfast is important to get energy and not to be sleepy.
- Brunch: Breakfast + lunch together, including pancakes, waffles eaten with butter and maple syrup, mostly during weekend in America.
- Lunch: British lunch (light meal, hot dish in a restaurant or a packed lunch - sandwiches, Sunday lunch - roast meat, vegetables, sweet course), US lunch (usually a quick meal - sandwich), in Slovakia is lunch the most important meal of the day (soup, mean dish - mostly meat, sometimes dessert)
- Teatime: around 4 PM, SR- snack, UK - teatime used to be a big occasion
- Dinner: UK (evening meal, usually cooked meal with meat/fish, vegetable salad, dessert), US dinner (ready-prepared and heated dishes in a microwave oven, only a few American families have dinner together).
Catering Possibilities:
- At home: most families eat together only on evening and at the weekend, at home we eat our favorite meals
- School canteen: many students, teachers, bargain prices, but not every time tasty
- Company canteen: for employees, mostly more meals at choice to choose what you like
- Restaurant: service by waiter/waitress, you take a seat, he brings menu cards, orders alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks, starter, main dish with side dish, dessert and coffee.
Allergens
- Cereals containing gluten (i.e. wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut or their hybrid varieties).
- Crustaceans and products thereof.
- Eggs and products thereof.
- Fish and products thereof.
- Peanuts and products thereof.
- Soybeans and products thereof.
- Milk and products thereof.
- Nuts, namely almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts and Queensland nuts and products thereof.
- Celery and products thereof.
- Mustard and products thereof.
- Sesame seeds and products thereof.
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites in concentrations higher than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/l.
- Lupin and products thereof.
Prečítajte si tiež: Ochutnajte Bryndzové Halušky
Prečítajte si tiež: Ako pripraviť dokonalé bryndzové pirohy