What’s for Dinner Tonight? Hungarian Goulash

Today when I woke up in a funky mood and just wanted to cook something comforting this dish came to mind.

Hungarian Goulash, yes that the stuff we had as kids, on the cafeteria line in school, that always in my experience ,looked like mud slop with pieces of mystery meat. It was only later in my life, when I had this dish by one of my aunts houses, that I realized its gourmet potential and how delicious this dish really is.

Did you know that paprika is the national spice of Hungary? Well ether did I till recently, but it makes sense since most Hungarian dishes, like this delicious Goulash I made last night, feature this particular red spice quite prominently .

Goulash actually means “Herdsman” in Hungarian. Which despite being an odd name choice for a food dish, makes total practical sense, because ultimately they had access to the best and freshest ingredients, and used them to create these most mouth-watering dishes. Normally they cooked these dishes in cauldrons outside in mainly harsh conditions, and so they have earned the right to have this national dish  to be named after them.

They key to great Goulash is the Sweet Hungarian Paprika, which is now readily available in all grocery stores. It is that added sweetness of sugar to the slightly spicy and earthy tasting red paprika spice that makes this dish really shine. Add to that some melt in your mouth meat and “buttery” egg noodles with dill and peas, and you have got a winner of a dish to serve for dinner tonight!

 Hungarian Goulash

Recipe adapted from Cuisine by my Aunt who gave it to me.

Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 2 inch chunks and seasoned with salt and pepper

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 large white onion, diced

3 Tbsp. (2-3 cloves) minced garlic

3 Tbsp. Sweet Hungarian Paprika (some bottles just say sweet paprika – also works

3 cups Beef Broth

1/4 cup Tomato Paste

1 tbsp. brown sugar

3/4 cup Tofutti non-dairy sour cream (it gives it a creamier and thicker base for the goulash sauce)

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

Salt to taste

Directions:

Dredge beef in flour, shaking off any excess. Sear the beef chunks (do it in 2 batches not to crowd the pot) in oil in a large pot over medium high heat, adding more oil if necessary

Remove beef from pot;set aside

Saute the onions, garlic and sweet paprika in the same pot for about 30 seconds. Then deglaze the pot  with the broth, scraping to loosen any browned bits.

Stir in the tomato paste, brown sugar and reserved beef ; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer stew, covered until meat is fork tender – about 1-1.5 hours.

Off the heat, finish the goulash with sour cream and vinegar, season with salt and serve on top of the egg noodles

Egg Noodles with Peas

1 package dry wide egg noodles

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

2 tsp. dried dill or 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

3 tbsp. margarine, softened

salt and black pepper to taste

Cook the noodles according to package directions, adding peas to the water during the last minutes of cooking. Drain Noodles, and then toss noodles with dill and margarine until margarine melts. Season with salt and pepper.