Hungarian egg drop soup – Savanyú tojásleves

by | Feb 3, 2016 | Soups

Hungarian egg drop soup is a traditional, cheap and easy-to-cook dish, which is served often in households and hash houses, as well. It consists of an onion blond roux, beaten and poached eggs, flavoured with paprika, sour cream and vinegar. Similar to other countries’ recipes, a fine stream of beaten eggs is added to the boiling liquid creating thin, silken strands that float in the soup. Poached eggs (one per person) are cooked in the soup, too. Egg soup should not be confused with caraway seed soup, which may also contain beaten eggs.

Hungarian egg drop soup
Hungarian egg drop soup – photo: zserbo.com

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 – 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1,2 l (~5 cups) water
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 tbsp sour cream
  • vinegar to taste

Heat up the oil, add finely chopped onions and flour, and make a blonde roux. Once the roux is done, remove the pot from the heat, stir in paprika, then pour in water. Add bay leaf, salt and pepper; bring it to a boil and over medium heat cook for 5-6 minutes, while stirring regularly, until onions are tender.

Beat two eggs and pour into the soup in a fine stream while stirring constantly. Continue to cook for further 1-2 minutes. Crack one of the four eggs into a cup and at a rolling boil gently pour it into the soup in one fluid movement. Repeat the process with the remaining eggs, leaving some space between them in the pot. Leave them to cook for 3-4 minutes without stirring, then gently move them with a wooden spoon in order to prevent sticking.

Once the eggs are done, turn off the heat. In a small bowl mix sour cream and some soup together until well combined, then stir the mixture into the soup. Flavour with a dash of vinegar.
Mentés

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10 Comments

  1. What does “1,2 l water” mean? Is that 1-2 Cups, 1/2 cup, 1-2 quarts of water….??

    • 1,2 liters are equal to 5 cups of water.

  2. Nice !
    I tried 2 times : fist time = original recipe.
    Second time : I replaced the bay leave with thym , added a cube of chicken stock(replace the salt) , some sliced fresh paprika and garlic and some spicy paprika powder.
    I was happy with both.
    Keep up the good job , your recipes are TOP.

    • Thank you, Frank, for your feedback. It’s amazing how playing with the spices can make a simple dish more interesting. I’m gonna try your version.

  3. I made the soup last night and it turned out great. When I was younger my mom would make egg drop soup and put caraway seeds in it. Well I loved it. By mistake I put fennel seeds in it last night. Well, I guess I put to much in it, it over took the flavor. I’m going to make it again and let you know.

    Have you made it with the caraway seeds ?

  4. Thank you Eszter for you quick reply. It is really appreciated. I’m so excited that I found this site
    and can view all the hungarian recipes. I sure do miss those nights coming home and my mom
    would have all sorts of hungarian dinners for us. Now with the help of this site I can make them.
    My problem was that mom wrote the recipes down but didn’t say what amount of each. It was
    a dash of this, a hand full of that and on and on. So, here I can see the exact amounts. I can’t
    wait to view more of the recipes. Plus my Dad was German and so some of the recipes have
    what he like and so mom would mix the two. lol.

    Again, thank you soooo much for you help.

    pmmw/Pat

    • Yes, old family recipes usually don’t give the exact amounts, first I need to test and weigh in order to be able to share plain instructions. I hope you will find those dishes on this site that remind you of your parents.

      • It certainly does Eszter
        This recipe is definitely pretty close to my mum’s. Thank you Easter

        • Thank you Valerie.

Hungarian cottage cheese

This is what Hungarian túró looks like

You often ask me what kind of cottage cheese (or curd cheese or farmer's cheese - call it what you want) I use in the recipes. In Hungary the store-bought cottage cheese is dry and crumbly as you can see in the picture. So if a recipe calls for túró, I mean this type. If you can't obtain túró, you can try to make your own from whole milk. Click on the link below.

Metric system vs cup

In Hungary metric units are in use, all the recipes on this website are based on this system, so a kitchen scale is necessary. Since I’m not familiar with cup as a measurement unit, I convert grams to cups by using an online converter. The values in brackets, therefore, are only approximate volumes, so, please, double-check them before you start cooking.

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