If you’ve already prepped and cooked some töltött káposzta (Hungarian stuffed cabbage), then you’ll likely have some of the cabbage left over and you can have a second Magyar comfort dish of cabbage and noodles for just the cost of whatever egg noodles you want to use!
If you’re on a budget, this is a way to stretch those dollars a bit further!
Even if you didn’t do some stuffed cabbage, this recipe is still delightfully cheap, tasty, and most importantly lasts quite a long time and definitely improves with time as all Hungarian cooking tends to do!
What You’ll Need
- One head of cabbage (whatever was unused from töltött káposzta, if available)
- One package of wide or extra-wide egg noodles (though medium will do)
- *REAL* Hungarian Paprika
- For káposztás tészta, I actually prefer using the “sweet” paprika but “hot” will do nicely
- Other seasonings as desired
- I’ve found that Greek seasoning provides a nice blend of spices that can hold it’s own to complement the paprika
It Won’t Get Much Easier Than This!
Cook the noodles in a nice tall pot according to directions to preferred doneness (for me, it’s 10-12 minutes).
Core (if necessary) and shred the cabbage however you wish. In the pictures below, I just used the knife to chop the cabbage to manageable pieces but I’m not opposed to using the “shredder” wheel in the food processor if I’m not really in the mood to mess with the big prep knife!
By the time the cabbage is ready, the noodles are likely ready to find their way to a convenient colander in the sink and the pot goes right back on the stove with a very small amount of olive oil (you really don’t need much than a tablespoon or two…just enough to cook the cabbage down) on a lower heat setting (typically 1/4 to 1/3 full on mine).
As the cabbage is cooking, stir in paprika and other seasonings to taste. I’m not going to skimp on the paprika!
Stir the cabbage occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick to the pot and once the cabbage is sufficiently cooked down, go get those egg noodles and stir them into the mixture until everything is nice and evenly distributed.
A few minutes more to heat the whole mixture will be all it takes and you’re done and ready to serve (or if you’ve got amazing willpower that I most certainly don’t when it comes to Magyar comfort food, put it into the fridge for tomorrow!).
How easy is that? 🙂
You can pair the cabbage and noodles with your meat of choice (I’m not opposed to a bit of kielbasa or andouille joining in on the fun!) but it’s perfectly fine served on it’s own!
