Túrós palacsinta – Hungarian Curd Cheese Pancakes

Ingredients

• 9⅔ ozflourplain flour for the pancake batter
• 4Eggfor batter, filling and topping; whites partly beaten stiff
• 2⅛ cupsMilkto thin the batter, part for the topping
• ½ cupSoda waterloosens the batter, as needed
• 1 pinchSaltfor batter and egg whites
• 2¾ ozsugarfor batter, curd filling and topping
• 3 tbspOilin the batter and for greasing the pan
• 14⅛ ozCurd cheesedry cow's milk curd, passed through a sieve
• 7 ozSour creamin the filling and drizzled on when serving
• 3 tbsppowdered sugarto sweeten the cream and for dusting
• ½ ozvanilla sugarfor filling, cream and topping
• 3½ ozraisinsin the filling, soaked in rum beforehand (optional)
• 4 tbsprumfor soaking the raisins (optional)
• 1lemonzest only, for the filling (optional)
• 6 tbspbuttersoftened and stirred into the curd, also for greasing the dish (optional)
• 4 tbspJamblueberry or other jam for serving (optional)
• 5¼ ozRed berriese.g. raspberries, strained into a purée for plating (optional)

Method

1. For the batter, whisk 2 eggs with salt and 20 g sugar, add the soda water, then stir in the flour until no lumps remain.
2. Thin the batter with 400 ml of the milk, adding it a little at a time until the mixture runs freely, stir in 2 tbsp of the oil last and let the batter rest briefly.
3. Bake thin pancakes one after another in a pan brushed with the remaining 1 tbsp of oil, letting each side turn pale gold.
4. For the filling, press the curd cheese through a sieve and beat it smooth with 1 egg yolk, 40 g sugar, 8 g vanilla sugar and sour cream or softened butter.
5. Soak the raisins in rum and fold them into the curd mixture along with the grated lemon zest.
6. Beat the white of that egg with a pinch of salt until stiff and fold it gently into the filling so it stays light.
7. Spread the pancakes with the filling, roll or fold them and layer them, slightly overlapping, in a greased baking dish.
8. For the topping, whisk together 1 egg, 20 g sugar, 8 g vanilla sugar and the remaining 100 ml milk and pour it evenly over the pancakes.
9. Bake in a preheated oven at 390 °F for about 25 minutes, then dust with powdered sugar and serve with sweetened sour cream, jam or strained fruit purée.

Tips and variations

If you're short on time, skip the baking altogether: the filled pancakes go straight onto the plate and get nothing more than sour cream and jam spooned over them. The filling also works without the raisins, rum and lemon zest, and stiffly beaten egg whites are what make it especially airy; there's also a batter version with no egg at all, just flour, milk, oil, salt and soda water. For plating, strained fruit purées and fresh fruit are lovely – raspberries, grapes and kiwi alongside sweetened sour cream happen to give you the Hungarian national colours.