Hungarian Beef Stew

This is a thick beef dish cooked with lots of onions, Hungarian paprika powder, tomatoes and some sweet peppers. You can have it with bread, or serve with nokedli noodles (spaetzle) or boiled potatoes and pickles.

Recipe

Ingredients for 4 people:
1500 grams of beef shank (53 ounces) – cut into 1-inch cubes
750 grams of onions (26,5 ounces) – diced
2 tablespoons lard or 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil (sunflower)
2 tablespoons of sweet Hungarian paprika powder
2 bay leaves
1 medium fresh tomato – chopped
1 sweet yellow pepper (or bell pepper, wax or banana pepper) – cut into small pieces
1 clove of garlic – minced
1 teaspoon of ground caraway seeds
10 black peppercorns
Salt to taste

Directions:

In a large soup pot, sauté the onions in vegetable oil or pork lard over low heat, stirring frequently, until translucent. Do not let them burn. Salt lightly to help tenderize them. The onions should be cut into very, very small pieces. This is essential in order to achieve the “stew consistency”. Add a small amount of water, if necessary, to keep them from sticking to the pan.

Add the meat and fry them for about 1-2 minutes until the color changes.

Remove the pot from the heat, add the sweet Hungarian paprika, stir. Add the tomatoes, the sweet yellow pepper and stir again. Do not burn the paprika, or it will become bitter.

Add the bay leaves, the peppercorns, the minced garlic, salt to taste and pour over water to cover by an inch and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until meat is tender, adding water as necessary to avoid burning but to keep the thick stew consistency. It takes around 2-3 hours.

Serve your beef goulash with nokedli noodles and pickles.