Meatball soup

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Ingredients (4 servings): 

• 1 onion
• 1 tbsp (olive) oil
• 3 cloves of garlic
• bunch of fresh parsley
• 1 tomato
• 2 sticks of celery
• 3 medium carrots
• 2 tsp paprika 
• salt and pepper to taste

For the meatballs: 

• 1 kg/2.2lbs ground meat (I used pork, but feel free to use anything else)
• 1 smaller onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp pepper to taste
• 1 tsp paprika

In Hungary Sundays usually mean soup. I am not a fan of soup. However, my dad is. And since he always makes the exact same thing, I decided to make it this time! Here is what I made. All the while I was making it, this song was on repeat in my head! It always reminds me of him :) 

1. Boil  about 2-3 cups of water.  
2. Roughly chop up the onions, put in a pot, add some salt and the oil. Cook on medium/low heat   until soft but not brown,stirring occasionally, about 10-15 minutes.
3. Chop up carrots and celery and add to the pot. Mix well, and cover. 
4. Get your tomato ready: cut a cross in the skin, and pour the boiling water on it, and put aside. 
5. Gather the parsley. You have two options: either roughly chop it up, and add to the pot, or leave in whole, and put it in a tea strainer, then put in the pot. I prefer the latter option, because this way the parsley doesn't end up swimming around in the soup, but you still get the flavor of it. 
6. The tomato is ready, now peal the skin, cut up the tomato, and add to the pot, then cover again.
7. Stir occasionally, to make sure nothing burns to the bottom of your pot. After about 10 minutes add about 4 cups water (or 1 Liter). You can add more, depending on how much soup you want. Bring to a boil, uncovered. 
8. Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs! Finely chop the onion and the garlic* (see my note on garlic below), and add to the meat. Add salt, pepper, paprika, and the egg. Mix well.  
9. Once the soup has boiled, add the meatballs! With wet hands form small, bite-size balls, and add to the boiling soup. They should be done after 10-12 minutes, but take one out, and check, just to be sure. 
10. Finally, add the paprika to the soup. You add this last because if you add it too soon it will get a bitter taste. 
11. Yummmm

*Ok, so about the garlic. Have you ever had stomach problems after eating something with garlic in it? Or do you know someone who can't have garlic because it hurts their stomach? Try this: half the garlic clove. There's a sprout in the middle of almost every garlic. It's not always as green as in the pic below. Take this out, and proceed as you normally would. :)