Nettle marikli (Marikli cuknidaqi)

For six to eight people: 1 kilo of cornflour; 1 kilo of small-leaved nettles; a handful of sorrel

Rinse the nettles and sorrel well and chop finely. Re-rinse and set aside with a little cornflour, salt, olive oil, chopped fresh mint, wild onion stems finely chopped and a small quantity of feta cheese if available. This mixture may be lightly fried or not, but must be well mixed. If you decide to fry it (which is the best method), only add the cheese and chopped mint afterwards.

Make a dough with the kilo of cornflour, some water, salt and olive oil. Oil an oven pan, knead the dough well, then spread it, packing fairly tightly, into the base of the pan to a depth of one finger. Spread the nettle and sorrel mix over the uncooked dough and scatter a very fine layer of cornflour on top, just sufficient to cover the green mix. Cook in the oven at medium heat until golden brown. In the olden days when ovens were not available the dish was prepared using the "saçi" method: glowing embers were placed in a hole in the ground underneath a broad shallow pan containing the marikli, then more embers were placed on top.

Marikli can also be made with wheat flour but the method is different. Prepare a dough with the flour, water and a little salt, and knead it well. Let the dough rest for ten minutes before dividing it into small balls, then roll these out into rounds using an oklaia (a wooden roller about as long as an arm and thinner than a broom handle). Lay the rounds one on top of the other in a tepsia (a very broad, flat-bottomed aluminium dish with straight sides) with a little olive oil between the layers. After eight or ten layers, spread on the filling (which can be based on nettles, as above, or on spinach, leeks with milk and/or yoghurt, or minced beef lightly fried with onions, or may even be a sweet mixture). Place a further eight to ten very thin layers of pastry on top before putting the dish in the oven.

Chicken farinade (Zumi kaxnǎqi)

For five to seven people: a medium-sized chicken cut into roughly as many pieces as there are people to be served

Wash the chicken pieces and, if there is not much fat on them, brush them with oil. Sprinkle with salt and place in a tepsia (see above). Roast well in the oven.

Meanwhile, brown some flour in a pan with a little butter (or oil). The quantity of flour depends on what type you use – one and half cups of wheat flour or two of cornflour – and on how liquid you want your sauce to be, which is a matter of personal preference. Put the browned flour into a bowl and add the following: pepper; plenty of garlic; a little milk; salt; parsley or fresh mint. (For special occasions some cooks also add a few chopped walnuts.) Mix with water to form a gruel, stirring well to prevent lumps forming. Pour this mixture over the chicken pieces in the tepsia and return to the oven until the chicken is fully cooked – well browned and with a crispy surface film.

Pork with dandelions (Balikano mas śerlagòça)

For six people: 1 kilo of fairly lean pork; 1½ kilos of dandelions

Cut the meat into small pieces, rinse them, then brown them in a casserole with some onions and a pinch of salt. Wash the dandelions well and chop into small pieces. If the central veins of the dandelion clumps are red they need extra washing. Cover the meat with water and bring to the boil. Add the dandelions, turn up the heat and bring back to the boil as quickly as possible in order to prevent the dandelions becoming bitter. When everything is well cooked, remove the meat and put it on a plate. Drain the dandelions, reserving the cooking liquor, and check that the veins are nice and soft. Then add two handfuls of cornflour to the dandelions and rub in well with a wooden spoon to produce a sort of puree. Add the cooking liquor and the meat so that the flavours mix well. Add salt to taste and simmer for 20-30 minutes before serving – not too hot.

The same recipe was formerly used with hedgehog, but hedgehogs are now a protected species and their right to live should be respected.

Corn-stuffed cabbage (Sàrme melejaqe)

This dish is a favourite with Rroma in the Puszta area of Hungary but it is also found virtually everywhere in the surrounding region.

For six people: 1 lb of beef cut up finely with a knife (this produces coarser pieces than mincing with a machine); a fairly young cabbage; slightly more than 1 lb of cornflour; two large onions; some strong paprika (powdered will do); tomato sauce; a good piece of smoked bacon; a little lard. Some cooks add an egg to bind the mixture but this is not recommended as it makes the dish harder when cooked.

Cut out the heart of the cabbage, then blanch it and separate the softened leaves. If the central veins are so thick that the leaves cannot be rolled up, they may be cut through and partially removed.

In Puszta, the meat and finely chopped onions are not pre-fried but elsewhere this is customary, and each cook has his or her own style. So, lightly fried or not, the meat is mixed with the cornflour (which some cooks also like to brown a little first in a pan), the paprika, the smoked bacon (cut into small cubes) and the tomato sauce. Knead the stuffing mixture well, shape it into small rolls and leave it to rest for half an hour. Then wrap the rolls of stuffing in the cabbage leaves, folding the edges inwards to make tubular shapes. Grease the base of a cooking pot with the lard and place the stuffed parcels in it, forming a star shape from the centre and layering as more parcels are added. Cover the remainder of the stuffing with water and cook it lightly, adding a little more cornflour, then pour this mix around the cabbage parcels to fill in the gaps. Top up with water until just covered then cook on a medium heat. Serve with "cherry peppers" (small, very strong round peppers) and pickled green tomatoes. For maximum enjoyment this dish should be accompanied by plenty of thardi mol (eau-de-vie, palinka or ţuica) and warm bread. It also helps to imagine a cold winter's night outside and ten or twelve family members and friends eating together in a putrin (the old Rromani dwelling common in the region, consisting of a sort of earthen bank and a rough roof of canvas and branches with a central hole for the smoke from the fire). Often the horse would spend the winter inside with the family until the festival in early April that marked "putting out the horses".

Pastry strips (Pharrado xumer)

Not a dish as such, this is a method of preparing pastry to accompany roast meat. It is also a secret skill, and learning it demands dexterity, sensitivity and sureness of touch, so a book can do no more than highlight what is a minor miracle performed by the hands of the Rromni [Rromani woman].

Take two kilos of flour and mix in two or three eggs. Knead well, add a little salt and knead again, then pull the pastry into an elongated shape (about as thick as an arm and a metre long) and let it rest for an hour. Cut it lengthways with a knife and roll the strips around your upper arm and forearm. Press the strips between two fingers to form long strands which can then be tossed into soup or, if they are to accompany meat, into boiling water flavoured with onions. Little girls spend a long time learning the skill of pharrado xumer, and making them is always a challenge and at the same time an opportunity for women to get together and share all sorts of memories and gossip.

JD