Authentic Hungarian Goulash (Gulyás)

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Goulash, also called Gulash or Gulyás or Gulaš, is one of the national dishes of Hungary and its origin can be traced back to the 9th century as a stew eaten by Hungarian shepherds.

Goulash comes in a lot of varieties and can be made from beef, veal, pork and lamb. Paprika was introduced in the 16th century and tomato only in the 20th century. Today, an authentic goulash, without Hungarian paprika will be frowned upon.

I got the original recipe here, but changed the quantities a bit. If Hungarian paprika is the most important ingredient in this recipe, then the beef stock must be a close second. Make sure to use good quality, preferably homemade, beef stock.

These ingredients will be enough for 6 generous portions.

Ingredients

100ml Hungarian sweet paprika
5 Tbsp pork lard (can be substituted with butter)
+/- 1.4kg quality beef cubes (cut into 2cm cubes)
4 medium onions, diced
10 garlic cloves, minced
3 red bell peppers, cut into 2cm chunks
2 yellow bell peppers, cut into 2cm chunks
4 tomatoes diced
5 medium potatoes, cut into 2cm chunks
4 medium carrots, diced
1l quality beef stock
3 bay leaves
2 tsp black pepper corns, crushed
2 tsp caraway seeds
Salt

Method

Heat up a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Melt the lard / butter and add the onions. Fry the onions until they turn slightly brown. +/- 10 minutes

Add the meat, and cook until it turns brown. +/- 10 minutes

Add the peppers, garlic and tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes.

The onions, meat, garlic, peppers and tomatoes cooking away

Remove the pot from the heat, and add the paprika, black pepper and caraway seeds. Stir well. The pot is removed from the heat when adding the paprika as paprika turns bitter when scorched.

Add the stock and bay leaves and return the pot to the heat. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down to medium. Let it simmer for 40 minutes.