Hungarian Solet Recipe | A Taste of Hungary

Hi guys, this recipe is for something that I’m not even sure the name of. When I first started researching Hungarian food for this series, I found a list of traditional dishes to order at a restaurant and used that as my starting point. I found a dish called ‘solet’ that I liked the sound of. When I googled that dish for more information, I got several results using different names, some under the same name that sounded nothing like the dish I initially found and a whole load of other stuff about Jewish culture.  Yes, Jewish culture. This dish has lots of names because of its origin, Jews call it different things depending where they are from. The Hungarian Solet is, apparently, not a widely used term. But this is a series on Hungarian food, so this is my Hungarian solet recipe. 

I knew I was going to like this one the second I saw that first page about restaurant dishes. It’s traditionally vegetarian (yay, less work for me substituting things) and contains beans, barley and potatoes. It sounded like the perfect winter dish, very heaty and warming and filling, of course.  

I’m writing this on a rainy day, it’s -1 outside and it’s mid January. A new hearty, warming dish to try could not sound more perfect.  

Ingredient Issues?

As well as the name of the dish, the ingredients also caused some confusion. The first few things I saw said to use kidney beans, then a few more said red beans (so…kidney?), then one called for white navy beans (I’m confused now), then another specified to use any beans other than kidney. I’m sorry, what? I’m using a combination of kidney and cannellini today and hoping that’s somewhere close to correct.  

Unlike the other recipes in this series, this one is loaded with heaps of paprika, just a slight touch. As I said, this dish is Jewish. When made for the Jewish Sabbath, this one is left to cook overnight on a very low heat, but most recipes have cooking time at around the 4 hour mark.  

I cut mine short and left it for around 2 hours so I didn’t have to battle with the lack of sunlight to take photos, but I get the impression that you can leave this cooking for as long as you want as long as you’re checking the water levels every so often.  

This recipe is vegan, dairy free, soy free and nut free. Barley is a gluten containing grain so this recipe is not gluten free. 

5 from 1 vote

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Hungarian Solet Recipe

This recipe is vegan, dairy free, soy free and nut free. Barley is a gluten containing grain so this recipe is not gluten free.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Hungarian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours 7 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 can kidney beans drained and rinsed
• 1 can cannellini beans drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 onion diced
• ½ cup pearl barley
• 2 potatoes peeled and sliced
• 2 tablespoons onion soup powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 can chopped tomatoes

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a pan. Saute onions for 5 to 7 minutes until translucent.

2. In a large pan/ pot, mix onions with beans and barley and add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook, covered, for 30 minutes.

3. Add potatoes. Cook, covered, on low heat for 30 more minutes. Check water levels every so often and top up if necessary
4. Stir in onion soup mix, paprika and tomatoes. Cook, tightly covered, on low heat for several hours or (if you plan to serve it for Sabbath lunch) overnight. Minimum cooking time is around an hour.

Serve and enjoy!

Have you guys ever heard of this dish, or a similar dish with a different name? Is this something you like the sound of?  

Until next time, 

Sophie 

For other Hungarian inspired recipes, click here.

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