Bogracs gulyas (goulash)

Somewhere between a soup and a stew, this Hungarian goulash is guaranteed to warm the body and soul. With the addition of hand-made pasta, it's a meal in a bowl and needs nothing else but good bread and a decent wine.

• serves

  6

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  2:15 hours

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 80 ml vegetable oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp sweet paprika, (hot if you are fan of heat)
• 1 kg chuck steak or gravy beef, diced 

• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp carraway seeds
• 2 cloves garlic crushed 
• 1 kg potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 Hungarian (yellow) capsicums or sweet banana chillies, diced
• 1 tomato, chopped

Soup pasta (csipetke)

• 80 g plain flour
• 1 egg

Instructions

Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onions until golden, then reduce the heat to low and add ½ of the paprika. Stirring rapidly, add the meat, salt, caraway seeds, finely chopped garlic and small amount of cold water. Stir occasionally while it’s braising not boiling.

While the meat is cooking chop the vegetables to same size pieces (1cm).

Prepare the soup pasta (csipetke) by mixing the flour and egg. The dough should be well kneaded and rested before making it into little pinched and rolled soup pastas around the same size as a large rice grain.

Before the meat is tender (1 ½ -2 hrs), reduce the pan juices and add vegetables and the remaining paprika. When potatoes are almost cooked add the pasta and adjust quantity by addition of water. Simmer until the pasta is just cooked, then serve with crusty bread.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.