Meat Soup with Semolina Dumplings

Meat soup is the crown of Hungarian Sundays: a golden, clear consommé with soft semolina dumplings in it.

Soup

1. Put the soup meat (800 g) into cold water (3 litres), and bring it slowly to the boil. Skim off the greyish foam forming on top, so the soup stays clear.

2. Add the cleaned carrots (3), the parsley roots (2), the celeriac (100 g) and the whole onion (1), then salt it.

3. Cover it, and over a very low heat, at just a gentle simmer, cook it tender in 2-2.5 hours – it must not boil hard, or it turns cloudy.

Semolina dumplings

4. For the dumplings beat the egg (1) fluffy with the cooking oil (1 tablespoon), add the semolina (80 g) and a pinch of salt, then let it stand for 15 minutes, so the semolina swells.

5. With a wet teaspoon scoop dumplings into the simmering (not boiling) soup.

6. Cover it and cook for 10 minutes, then take it off the heat and let it stand a further 10 minutes – this is when they truly swell big.

7. Serve the hot soup with the carrot and the dumplings.

Tip: The dumplings should not go into hard-boiling liquid, or they fall apart – it is enough that the soup just simmers.