Rakott krumpli is not only a dish - it's a tray filled up with memories. 

 

Each weekend my Hungarian - Transylvanian grandma called me and asked what do I want her to make for Shabbat dinner, and I always said: rakott krumpli, she was always surprised, asking me how is it possible I'm not bored of it.

 

One evening, when I was a teen I was at her house, we played Rummikub and drank a bottle and a half of wine, at 7 in the evening when we started to get hungry she suddenly asked me: "Do you feel like having rakott krumpli?", I was so happy, "of course I do" I said, but then she told me with a big smile:

 

"today I will teach you how to make rakott krumpli by yourself". The night after my grandma passed away, and the rakott krumpli I made with her for the first time was the last one I ever ate with her.  Years passed, I became vegan and got to know my chef husband, Kristóf - Hungarian from head to toe.

 

Kristóf heard a lot about my grandma's famous rakott krumpli - it was the first dish he prepared for me. We are keeping our little tradition of making rakott krumpli at least once a month. Here is our recipe for the alternative vegan rakott krumpli, based on memories from my grandma, and by Kristóf's childhood memories in Budapest.  

 

Ingredients:

3 large potatoes

1 beautiful sweet potato

1 white onion

Tofu

Black Himalayas salt

1/2 a cup of chickpea flour

4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Any plant based cream or yogurt.

 

How did we do it:

1. we peel 2 potatoes and the sweet potato, and they went into a pot with hot water, we let them cook till they became halfway soft, the white onion we also peeled and cut into thin strips. 

 

2. Meanwhile we grated the third potato, the chickpea flour we mixed with water until we got an egg-like texture is, we mix the grated potato with the chickpea flour and add some nutritional yeast (this is the melted cheese). 

 

3. The tofu we cut lengthwise to a thickness of half a centimetre and we put it in a bowl with black salt (which gives the smell and taste of an egg). 

 

4. On a tray we greased olive oil / margarine, we slice the potatoes and sweet potatoes and build the pie, layer of potatoes, tofu, onion, sweet potatoes, "cheese", and then again - potatoes, tofu, onions, sweet potatoes & cheese, then everything goes to the oven on 180° for about 45 minutes. The yogurt or sour cream we poured over on top just before eating.

 

Call your grandmother and tell her that you love her, cos some day you will be left with her recipes, and with missing her.