Hungarian Beef Goulash Soup (Gulyásleves)

Ingredients

For 4 portions

• 🥩 700g beef stew meat (raw)
• 🧈 30g lard
• 🧅 2 large onions
• 🫑 2 Tbsp paprika
• 🌿 1 Tsp caraway seed
• 🧄 3 cloves garlic
• 🍅 1 medium tomato
• 🫑 1 medium red bell pepper
• 🥕 2 medium carrots
• 🥔 500g potato
• 🥩 1 cube beef stock cube
• 🥤 1,500ml tap water
• 🧂 1.5 Tsp salt
• 🌿 0.5 Tsp black pepper
• 🍞 200g sourdough bread

Method

1. Cut the beef (shin or chuck) into 2 cm cubes and pat dry. Finely chop the onions, crush the garlic and lightly crush the caraway seeds.
2. Melt the lard (or use 2 tablespoons of oil) in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Cook the onions slowly for 10 minutes, stirring, until soft and golden – this is the base of the flavour.
3. Turn up the heat, add the beef and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until it loses its raw colour on all sides.
4. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the paprika (off the heat so it doesn't burn and turn bitter), caraway and garlic. Return to the heat and immediately add 500 ml of the water and the crumbled stock cube.
5. Add the chopped tomato and the salt and pepper. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the beef is nearly tender.
6. Peel and cut the carrots into rounds and the potatoes into 2 cm cubes; cut the pepper into strips. Add them with the remaining 1 litre of water.
7. Simmer, partly covered, for 25–30 minutes until the potatoes and beef are completely tender and the soup is rich and red. Taste for salt.
8. Serve in deep bowls with thick slices of crusty bread.