Jókai-bableves

Ingredients

• 10½ ozborlotti beansdried, soaked overnight
• 1⅓ lbsmoked pork knucklesmoked pork neck or ribs work too; simmer until tender, bone out, dice
• 8¾ ozsmoked paprika sausagesliced, optionally briefly fried out
• 2carrotpeeled, sliced
• 1parsley rootpeeled, sliced
• 1celeriacsmall bulb, peeled, diced
• 1onionfinely chopped, for the roux
• 3 clovesgarliccrushed
• 2bay leafsimmered along
• 1 tbsplardfor the roux; oil or rendered sausage fat also used
• 1 ozWheat flourfor the roux
• 2 tspPaprika powderstirred into the roux off the heat
• ⅔ cupsour creamfor finishing and for serving
• 3½ ozWheat flourfor the csipetke (pinched noodles)
• 1Eggfor the csipetke dough
• 1tomatofinely chopped, simmered along (optional)
• 1green pepperchopped; a hot variety if preferred (optional)
• 1 bunchparsleychopped, stirred in at the end (optional)
• saltsparingly, the smoked meat is already salty
• black pepperto taste

Method

1. Soak the borlotti beans overnight in plenty of cold water, then drain them the next day.
2. Put the smoked pork knuckle in a large pot with plenty of water, no salt, and simmer until tender — depending on the cut, that's one to two hours. Lift out the meat, keep the cooking broth and skim off the fat if you like.
3. Cook the beans in that broth with the bay leaves and garlic, along with the chopped tomato and green pointed pepper if you're using them, until they are half tender. Add the carrots, parsley root and celeriac and keep cooking until everything is soft. Remove the bay leaves.
4. Slice the paprika sausage and fry it briefly in the lard, then lift it out. Soften the onion in the remaining fat until translucent, stir in the flour and let it colour to a pale gold. Pull the pan off the heat, stir in the sweet paprika and whisk the roux smooth with cold water.
5. Stir the roux into the soup and bring it back to the boil once so it thickens.
6. For the csipetke, knead the flour, egg, salt and a splash of water into a firm dough, let it rest briefly and pinch off small pieces. Cook them in the soup for 4 to 5 minutes, until they float to the surface.
7. Pull the meat off the bone, dice it and return it to the soup together with the sausage slices.
8. Loosen the sour cream with a little hot soup, stir it in and don't let the pot boil hard after that. Season with salt — sparingly, the smoked meat brings plenty — and black pepper, then serve with chopped parsley, a spoonful of sour cream and fresh white bread.

Tips and variations

Instead of knuckle you can use smoked pork neck, ribs or a mixture of both; with fresh shelled beans you can skip the soaking altogether. For more depth, fry the root vegetables in the skimmed fat before adding the liquid, and a kohlrabi alongside them is very welcome. Rather than pinching the dough you can scrape it into the soup through a spätzle grater, and a hot pointed pepper in the broth adds bite. There's also a nice version where the smoked meat doesn't stay in the soup at all but is served separately with horseradish and mustard — and the sour cream simply goes on the table so everyone helps themselves.