Hungarian Goulash

Hungarian Goulash

From the country's varied culinary repertoire Hungarian goulash is the most famous and often cooked dish outside the borders of Hungary, still many confusions and misconceptions surround its exact preparation method. Hungarian goulash is neither a soup nor a stew, it’s somewhere in between. Though in Hungary it’s considered rather to be a soup than a stew, so look for it among Soups on restaurant menus.
If cooked in the proper way goulash has a nice and evenly thick consistency, almost like a sauce. In Hungary gulyás is eaten as a main dish; noodle or pastry dishes, especially the ones made with cottage cheese (túrós csúsza, túrógombóc, strudel) go down well after the heavy soup.

Ingredients (for 4 persons)

    * 600 g beef shin or shoulder, or any tender part of the beef cut into 2x2 cm cubes
    * 2 tablespoons oil or lard
    * 2 medium onions, chopped
    * 2 cloves of garlic
    * 1-2 carrots, diced
    * 1 parsnip, diced
    * 1-2 cellery leaves
    * 2 medium tomatos, peeled and chopped, or 1 tbs. tomato paste
    * 2 fresh green peppers
    * 2-3 medium potatoes, sliced
    * 1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika powder
    * 1 teaspoon ground caraway seed
    * 1 bayleaf
    * ground black pepper and salt according to taste
    * water


For csipetke (Pinched noodles added to goulash or bean soup in Hungary. Csipetke comes from the word csípni, meaning pinch in English, referring to the way of making this noodle):

    * 1 small egg,
    * flour,
    * a pinch of salt,
    * cc. 1 teaspoon water

Goulash is hearty enough without csipetke, especially if you eat it with bread, so you can leave csipetke out.

Instructions

   1. Heat up the oil or lard in a pot and braise the chopped onions in it until they get a nice golden brown colour.

   2. Sprinkle the braised onions with paprika powder while striring them to prevent the paprika from burning.

   3. Add the beef cubes and and sauté them till they turn white and get a bit of brownish color as well.

   4. The meat will probably let out its own juice, let the beef-cubes simmer in it while adding the grated or crushed and chopped garlic (grated garlic has stronger flavor), the ground caraway seed, some salt and ground black pepper, the bayleaf, pour water enough to cover the content of the pan and let it simmer on low heat for a while.

   5. When the meat is half-cooked (approx. in 1,5 hour, but it can take longer depending on the type and quality of the beef) add the diced carrots, parsnip and the potatoes, the cellery leaf and some more salt if necessary (vegetables tend to call for more salt). You'll probably have to add some more (2-3 cups) water too.

   6. When the vegetables and the meat are almost done add the tomato cubes and the sliced green peppers. Let it cook on low heat for another few minutes. You can remove the lid of the pan if you want the soup to thicken.

   7. Bring the soup to the boil and add the csipetke dough, it needs about 5 minutes to get cooked.


How to make the csipetke: beat up a small egg, add a pinch of salt and as much flour as you need to knead a stiff dough (you can add some water if necessary).

Flatten the dough between your palms (to about 1 cm thick) and pinch small, bean-sized pieces from it and add them to the boiling soup. They need about 5 minutes to get cooked.

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