beef goulash with variety

I am a huge goulash fan and would happily spend two hours stirring the pot away. This is one of our go to Sunday dinners that the kids have loved since they were taste testing new pureed foods and we would mash the potato and meat into the sauce. Traditional beef goulash for me is meat, potato and capsicum (green bell pepper) with a paprika sauce served on pasta and topped with sour cream. It’s one of the national dishes from Hungary and there are lots of recipes available for Goulash soup and stews made with pork or beef. American Goulash is made with mince and macaroni and you can read more about it on the food networks post “What is Goulash?“.

There is so much you can do with goulash by substituting pasta for zucchini noodles (zoodles). If you are not a fan of white potatoes you can swap them out with sweet potatoes and serving it over rice. I was surprised how much I liked this flavour change as well as how much the rice worked with the sauce.

This recipe serves 4 and needs 2.5 hours from prep time to serving.

ingredients 

• 500g diced steak (I use rump as it’s easy to mash for little mouths)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 can whole tomatoes*
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 2 teaspoons mixed herbs
• 500ml beef stock
• 1/2 cup wine (optional)
• 4 medium potatoes or 2 medium sweet potatoes peeled and diced
• 1 green capsicum/bell pepper diced
• Cooked rice, pasta or zucchini noodles to serve
• Sour cream

directions

1. Add half the oil in a large pot and add diced beef cooking until browned. Remove to another bowl.
2. Add remaining oil and cook onion and garlic until transparent.
3. Add tinned tomatoes, beef stock, mixed herbs, paprika, wine if using and cooked beef to the pot. Cover and simmer for an hour – stirring occasionally and adding additional stock if needed.
4. Add diced potatoes and allow to simmer for additional 30 minutes.
5. Add diced capsicum and cook for a further 30 minutes.
6. Serve on pasta, rice or zoodles with a teaspoon of sour cream on top.

* I recently read an interesting article by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats discussing the various types of tinned tomatoes – whole, crushed, diced, puréed or as a paste. Basically he uses only whole tinned tomatoes in his cooking. You can read the article here.

utensils
You will need a board, knife, measuring jug, measuring spoons, saute pot with lid and spoon.

For other dinner inspiration check out some of our main meal suggestions.