Chunks of fall apart beef cooked slowly in a rich sauce made from onions, peppers, tomatoes, beef stock, some red wine, layers of paprika - sweet, hot and smoked - and the kick of aniseed from caraway seeds. Serves 4 - 6
Hungarian Goulash spice mix: mix all the ingredients together and combine with the flour in a large mixing bowl.
Vegetables and meat mix: Add the meat to the flour and spice mix and stir well, ensuring each piece of meat is coated in the flour and spice.
Add half the olive oil to a large cast iron casserole and start browning the meat – you will need to do this in stages. As you brown the meat, remove from the pan before adding more beef to brown. (See Recipe Notes).
As the beef cooks, prepare the vegetables as specified in the ingredients list. Place them in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Alternatively, finely chop by hand.
Add the chopped vegetables to the pan with the butter.
Cook over a moderate heat for 10 – 15 minutes until softened and slightly caramelised. Scrape up all the sticky bits from the base of the pan as you cook it.
When the vegetables are cooked, add the meat back to the pan with the vegetables.
Preheat oven to Fan Oven 130°C/150°C/300°F/Gas2.
Goulash Sauce: add the red wine to the pan to deglaze. Bring to the boil and reduce by half, whilst scraping any remaining bits from the base of the pan.
Add the stock, tomato puree, bay leaves, sugar, salt and pepper.
Stir well, bring to the boil, put the lid on and put in the oven for 2 hours.
Prepare the remaining peppers/capsicum – remove the stems, deseed and slice into strips.
After 2 hours, remove the Goulash from the oven, stir well, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Add the sliced red and green peppers and continue to cook for a further 45 minutes.
Serve: serve the Goulash garnished with sour cream, some paprika and chopped parsley and with your choice from spätzle, pasta such as pappardelle, mashed potatoes, buttered potatoes or rice.
Equipment:
Paprika
If you are unable to get Hungarian Paprika, replace with:
Taste the Goulash after it has been cooking for 2 hours. Add additional paprika and smoked paprika with the peppers, if necessary and according to taste.
Browning the beef:
If you try to do it all at once you will end up steaming, rather than frying, the beef and you won’t be able to get that gorgeous brown crust you are looking for. Add more oil as required.
Is the beef sticking to your pan?
I find that the beef can stick quite badly to my Le Creuset cast iron pan. A little but of sticking is good and will add flavour, too much and it will burn. If it is beginning to stick too much, fry the beef in a non stick pan.