This is an excellent recipe for goulash soup, so comforting and filling. We eat it in the winter at home, but in Hungary, this soup is considered a summer soup, as they harvest their vegetables.
You can choose beef knuckle or chuck or even turkey fillet. I decided to do it on chuck; it works better when you have a stew or soup that has to cook for a long time. If you want a little more heat in the soup, you can advantageously have some fresh chili that you slice thinly.
In Hungary, they use celery leaves in the soup; if you do not have access to it, you can use dry lovage or vice versa.
Keep in mind to cut both meat and vegetables into small pieces makes it easier to eat later.
Another important detail is that the soup tastes best if you have homemade broth, but it works just as well to use a good bouillon cube that you mix with hot water. Read the instruction on the package to know how much water you need in that case – you need about 1 liter of water.
Ingredients for 4 – 6 people
500 g boneless chuck
1 large onion
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
2 large tomatoes
2 carrots
Water covering meat and vegetables
Bouillon cube or (Fond de chef – Beef)
About 1 liter of water or broth.
0.5 dl tomato puree
200 grams of potatoes
2 – 3 garlic cloves (optional)
One piece of Fond de Chef (concentrated stock) or one more bullion (Beef)
Spices:
2 tablespoons “smoked” red peppers
2 teaspoons salt
2 cream of pepper
1 teaspoon dry lovage )or chopped celery leaves)
0,5 tsp ground cumin
12 tablespoons squeezed lemon (can be excluded)
My Gremolata mix
1 – 2 crushed garlic cloves
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
Zest from one lemon
1 – 2 tsp of lemon juice
2 dl of smetana
Method:
- Wash the meat, dry it lightly and then cut it into smaller pieces.
- Wash and dice the carrots.
- Wash, core, and dice the peppers.
- Peel and dice the onion
- Peel and dice the potatoes and leave them in the water.
- Mix broth and boiling water – set it aside.
- Measure out the spices and set them aside.
- Heat a frying pan pour in some oil or butter. Fry the meat – not all at once but a little at a time so that the meat surface caramelizes. Season with salt and pepper during the frying process. Set it aside.
- Rinse the frying pan with the broth and set it aside.
- Heat another pan with oil or butter. Fry the onion on medium heat for about 5 – 7 minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes after 5-7 minutes. Stir so that everything mixes well. Let it all fry together for a while (about 3 minutes). The mass should be a little “dry,” as shown in the video.
- Now add the meat and mix well.
- Pour in all the spices and mix well.
- Add the broth so that it covers the meat, onion, and tomato mixture. If the broth is not enough, you can pour a little more water. Mix well.
- Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 2 hours.
- After 2 hours – add the carrots, potato cubes, diced peppers, tomato puree, and Fond du chef (if you are not familiar with fond de chef – use one more bouillon cube); mix well. Of course, I have squeezed lemon – but you can leave it if you wish.
- Let everything come to a boil, simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are ready.
It is advisable always to taste and correct the seasoning to suit you.
Serve with a gremolata mixture and a tasty loaf of bread.
Enjoy!
