Hungarian Goulash (beef stew-soup)

Hungarian Goulash (beef stew-soup)

from recipetineats.com
15 min
15 minutes mins

Recipe video above. The national dish of Hungary! Boldly flavoured with stacks of paprika, lots of onion, garlic and capsicum/bell peppers, with fall apart hunks of beef. It's sort of a stew, sort of a soup. The broth is not supposed to be as thick as typical stews. It's naturally thickened slightly using fresh tomatoes that break down into the sauce.Serve like soup in bowls with bread for dunking. (Try cheese bread. Obsessed!).

Ingredients

  • 1 kg/2 lb beef chuck, cut in 3.5cm / 1.5″ cubes (Note 1)
  • 1 3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp/ 30g unsalted butter
  • 2 brown onions, cut into 1cm / 1/2″ squares
  • 5 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 2 capsicum/bell peppers (1 red + 1 yellow), cut into 2 cm / 0.8″ squares
  • 2 tomatoes, cut into 8 wedges then in half
  • 1/4 cup Hungarian-style paprika (sub ordinary paprika, Note 2)
  • 1 tsp caraway seeds, optional (Note 3)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 litre / 4 cups beef stock/broth, low-sodium
  • 2 carrots, peeled, cut in quarters lengthwise then into 1cm / 0.4″ pieces
  • 2 potatoes, cut into 1.2cm / 1/2″ cubes
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley, optional garnish

Directions

  1. 1

  2. 2

    Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan), though you can use your slow cooker or stove instead (oven easiest! Note 4).

  3. 3

    Season beef – Toss the beef with half the salt and pepper.

  4. 4

    Cook onion – Heat the oil and melt the butter in a large oven-proof dutch oven over high heat. Cook onion for 6 minutes until the edges are light golden.

  5. 5

    Cook beef – Add the beef and stir until the outside changes from red to brown, about 2 minutes. It won't go golden brown, it's not supposed to.

  6. 6

    Add vegetables – Add garlic, capsicum and tomato. Stir for 3 minutes – the tomato will mostly breakdown.

  7. 7

    Add paprika, caraway and bay leaf. Stir for 30 seconds.

  8. 8

    Slow cook – Add beef stock, stir, bring to simmer. Cover with a lid and transfer to the oven for 1 1/2 hours.

  9. 9

    Add potato – The beef should be pretty tender but not quite "fall-apart". Stir in carrot and potatoes. Return to oven, covered, for another 30 minutes. Beef should now be "fall-apart" – if not, return to the oven for 10 minutes at a time.

  10. 10

    Serve – Ladle goulash into bowls and sprinkle with parsley. Eat as is, with optional bread for dunking! (Pictured with cheese bread)