Recipe for goulash a national dish from Hungary that will satisfy your taste buds

One of Hungarian favorite recipe, a national dish that does not need sour cream to add more flavors.

You may add sausage or cheese into this recipe; taste will be amazing but I think lack of originality, after all this is a hearty meal that does not need more types of meats to be included.

When cooking recipe for goulash, I will always try to buy and use Hungarian paprika because you can have different degrees of hotness as well as sweetness depending on which types you choose for your beef goulash recipes.

What is goulash really like? First and foremost I like my goulash soup with ground Hungarian paprika with pepper seed added, because they will add more spiciness to the soup.

If you don’t have Hungarian paprika at home you may add some cayenne pepper instead. Usually two steps involve when incorporating the paprika into the dish.

The first step is on beginning of cooking process, and the second is just before serving the dish.

One more key ingredient I usually add into my recipe for goulash is tomato paste. Why tomato paste? Because I want the goulash with more color and depth, which simply will look more appetizing.

You can buy readily made tomato paste available in supermarket or grocery stores; but you might want to choose those with concentration of around 24% solid extracted from pulp and liquid of tomatoes.

Make sure that you use none salted of tomato paste, otherwise you should cut the amount of salt added into the dish later on.

Now let’s talk about another key ingredient, the beef, I prefer to use bottom round steak cut. The bottom round steak cut with less marble in comparison to sirloin or tenderloin steak.

Nevertheless I think the bottom round is better than the more use blade steak cuts as it is less fatty. The bigger you cut the bottom round pieces, the more succulent the taste will be, and of course the more satisfying result at the end of the day.

You might want to use less beef into your goulash as it makes huge differences in the amount of cholesterol content.

However the choice is yours and if you don’t have any cholesterol problem then you may add more meats since the taste will be better anyway.

Now, when browning the meat make sure to give enough heat and time so it gets browned properly. Get a frying pan, turn on the heat high, and when turn brown remove and dry the meat from any excess oil with paper towel.

Make sure to fry less meat cuts at a time, to get them the brown look, otherwise too much beef in the pan will make them to simmer in their own juices since meat has higher percentage of water in them.

• 1 and a half pound or about 700 gram of bottom round beef cut into 5 centimeters pieces
• 3 cups of beef stock or about 700 millimeters
• ½ tablespoon Hungarian paprika (or about 30 ml)
• 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
• 7 peeled, seeded and chopped plum tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon of extra light virgin olive oil and add a dash of sesame oil
• 2 peeled and finely chopped onions
• 2 crushed, peeled and chopped cloves of garlic
• One can of tomato paste without salt, or about 6 ounces
• 2 peeled and cut into a quarter-inch about 1.5 centimeters of big potatoes
• 2 seed and cubed green peppers

• Add oil into a big saucepan, heat the oil and add the onion and garlic until both become translucent make sure to avoid them getting brown. Place the cooked garlic and onion into a bowl.
• Grab the cubed beef and drop into the hot pan, sears until all pieces turn brown properly
• Add the tomato paste, stir, watch closely the sugar in the paste starting to caramelize and turn brown as well. At this point add the onion and garlic back into the pan.
• Stir in the beef stock for a while, cover and simmer for about 90 minutes. You may cut the cooking time by preparing the beef stock a day before cooking the goulash but first remove any accumulated fat before you continue.
• Now throw in the potatoes, half of paprika, the black pepper, caraway seeds and potatoes into the pan. Cover and simmer for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes get tender.
• Just before serving add the remaining tomato and paprika pieces, sprinkle over the dish.
• Stir one more time, serve and enjoy!