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Goulash soup with beef and vegetables

Hungarian Goulash Soup with Beef and Vegetables

A delicious, traditional Hungarian first course. Hungarian goulash soup is a thick, spicy soup with big chunks of meat and potato. In Hungarian it's called "bogrács gulyás" — bogrács being the handled kettle it's cooked in, and gulyás meaning "herdsman." The soup goes back a very long way; it's said the nomadic herding peoples came up with it. These days cooks have adapted the recipe for the modern kitchen, of course, but Hungarian cooking is still known for its generous use of all kinds of seasonings and spices.

Snezhana

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Beef

500

Potatoes

Carrots

Tomatoes

Onion

Garlic

Paprika

Salt

Ground black pepper

Bay leaf

Peppercorns

Vegetable oil

Water

0.5

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 41 % 7 g

Fats 24 % 4 g

Carbohydrates 35 % 6 g

86 kcal

GI: 100 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

In Hungary, modern goulash soup — like so many dishes around the world — has plenty of versions. But the core ingredients are always the same: meat, potatoes, onion, tomatoes, and paprika. Paprika, the dried powder of sweet peppers, is the heart of the dish, giving it both its distinctive flavor and its bright color. You can use any meat, but beef is the most common choice.
Step 2:

Wash the meat and cut it into serving pieces or large cubes. If you have meat on the bone, you can make the broth with the bone in.
Step 3:

Wash, peel, and cut the potatoes into cubes or large slices, whichever you prefer.
Step 4:

Wash, peel, and cut the carrot into strips, or grate it on a medium grater. Wash the tomatoes. To peel them, drop them into boiling water for a few minutes, then cut them into small cubes.
Step 5:

Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel and finely mince the garlic. Traditional Hungarian cooking adds all sorts of herbs and spices — coriander, caraway, thyme, cumin, rosemary, basil, hot pepper, and more. Add them according to your own taste.
Step 6:

Some cooks add little dough dumplings to thicken the soup, but that's optional. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet (you can use pork fat instead) and add the onion. Cook it until translucent.
Step 7:

Add the meat to the onion in the skillet, along with the bay leaf and peppercorns if you like.
Step 8:

Brown the meat lightly, then pour in a cup of water. Lower the heat to medium, cover, and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then.
Step 9:

Transfer the meat to a pot, pour in the broth from the skillet, and add the potatoes, carrot, and tomatoes. Add just enough water to cover everything by an inch or so. Season to taste, bring to a boil, and cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes. Serve the hot Hungarian goulash soup. Enjoy!