Grandma’s Goulash

A Taste of the Old World

There is nothing better than a filling meal of hot stew on a cold winters day.  Being that I live in Minnesota we certainly get plenty of stew opportunities!  Today I decided to make a family favorite recipe, one that has been passed down through generations, Goulash.

You can see it on the right, served over egg noodles with dumplings (on the left is Haluski- more on that another time), and my family eagerly devouring it!  This picture was taken around Thanksgiving 2016 while my sister and her boyfriend were visiting.  She was craving it and wanted him to give it a try (He’s Australian), both parties were very pleased 🙂

I learned to make Goulash first from my mom (who took the easy way out by using a prepackaged Knorr seasoning mix- its ok mom) and then again from my Grandma.  When I moved out to the midwest on my own my grandmother sent me one of her old Hungarian cookbooks, complete with her own notations on what to add/ try/ delete etc.  It is easily one of my most valued items.

As if recovering from a recent blizzard wasn’t enough of an excuse for this fantastic stew, this past Sunday (3/4/18) my beloved grandmother passed away at the age of 93.  So tonight we will celebrate her life in one of the best ways I know how- with food!

Now, I’ll be honest-  I’m not a great “follow the recipe” kinda gal.  Which is probably why I prefer cooking to baking.  There are many goulash recipes out there with varying ingredients, you can feel free add or subtract them to your liking.  The real stars of this show however are Paprika (and I tend to use a lot of it) and caraway seeds.  Those two items are what separate this from just any old stew.

I like to make this recipe on the stovetop for some reason, but you can certainly do it in a crock pot as well (or dutch oven or even insta pot!)

Ready to Get Cooking?

Here’s my ingredients (all amounts are approximate- sorry!)

1. 3 tablespoons butter

2. 1 large yellow onion, chopped

3. 3lbs stew meat

4. 4 to 6 tablespoons Hungarian paprika (aka not smoked paprika)

5. Pinch of caraway seeds (also sometimes a bay leaf)

6. 1 clove of garlic, minced

7. 1 green pepper

8. 1 red pepper

9. 2 cups chopped carrots

10. Beef stock to cover

11. 3 tablespoons flour *for gluten free use cornstarch

12. Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Melt the butter.  Add onion and garlic, cook to soften.

2. Add stew meat, stir to brown on all sides.

3. Top with paprika and caraway seeds, stir until meat is covered.

4. Add peppers, carrots and beef stock.

5. Add salt and pepper.

6. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for a few hours (stirring occasionally).  The sauce will thicken slightly and the meat will become tender and fall apart.

7. Once meat is tender and falling apart the Goulash is ready to serve.  In a separate pan or bowl spoon off some of the liquid and whisk with the flour.  Once all lumps have dissolved stir the mixture back into the stew and allow to thicken.

8. Serve over egg noodles or with dumplings

And thats it!  If you give this a try please let me know how you like it 🙂

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