Hungarian Mushroom Soup (Gombaleves)
Overview
Hungarian mushroom soup, or gombaleves, is a creamy soup of mushrooms with paprika, dill and sour cream. Sliced mushrooms are cooked in butter with onion until golden, then seasoned with sweet Hungarian paprika and simmered in stock with a little flour to thicken. Sour cream and plenty of fresh dill are stirred in at the end, with a squeeze of lemon. The soup is earthy, tangy and gently smoky, with a pale orange colour from the paprika. Some cooks add a splash of milk or a spoonful of soy sauce for depth. It is popular as a starter and is a favourite in American restaurants too.
History
Mushrooms grow widely in the forests of Hungary and have long been gathered in autumn. Gombaleves is a traditional home soup, and Hungarians often add a creamy roux with sour cream, known as habarás. The paprika and dill version became especially well known in the United States after it appeared in vegetarian cookbooks of the 1970s and 1980s.
Main ingredients
Mushrooms, onion, paprika, dill, sour cream, butter. The soup is built on vegetable stock and is usually served hot. Diet: vegetarian; not usually gluten-free.
Explore: More soups from Hungary
Recipe
Method
- 15 min
Fry the onion in the butter for 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook until golden.
- 21 min
Stir in the paprika and flour for 1 minute.
- 315 min
Add the stock and simmer for 15 minutes.
- 4
Stir in the sour cream and dill, add lemon juice, season and serve.
- ✓
Serve. About 45 min from start to bowl.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
