Hungarian Goulash Soup (Gulyásleves)
Overview
Gulyás began as the stew of Hungarian cattle herders, cooked in a kettle over an open fire on the Great Plain, and in Hungary it is still a soup rather than the thick stew known abroad as goulash. Plenty of onions are softened in lard, then cubes of beef are browned and generously seasoned with sweet Hungarian paprika and caraway. The paprika must not burn, so the pot is taken off the heat while it is stirred in. Water or stock, peppers, tomato, carrots and potatoes follow, and the soup simmers until the beef is tender. Tiny pinched pasta dumplings called csipetke are traditionally added at the end; leave them out to make the soup gluten-free.
Pictures
History
Gulyás takes its name from the Hungarian word for a cattle herdsman. Herders on the Great Hungarian Plain cooked meat with onions in a kettle over an open fire, a practice that goes back centuries. Paprika, made from peppers that arrived from the Americas, became a key ingredient later. In the nineteenth century, as Hungarians emphasised their national identity, goulash became a symbol of Hungarian cuisine. Abroad the name came to mean a thick stew, while in Hungary it remains a soup.
Main ingredients
Beef, onions, sweet paprika, potatoes, peppers and tomato, caraway. The soup is built on beef and paprika broth and is usually served hot. Diet: contains meat; not usually gluten-free.
Recipe outline serves 4 · ~110 min
Ingredients
- 700 g beef shin or chuck, cubed
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 2 tbsp lard or oil
- 2 tbsp sweet paprika, 1 tsp caraway seeds
- 1 pepper, 1 tomato, 2 carrots, chopped
- 500 g potatoes, cubed
- Csipetke: 1 egg, 100 g flour (optional)
Method
- Cook the onions in the fat until soft and golden, then add the beef and brown it.
- Off the heat, stir in the paprika and caraway, then add 2 l water and salt.
- Simmer for 1 hour until the beef is nearly tender.
- Add the vegetables and potatoes and cook for 20 minutes more.
- Pinch small pieces of egg-and-flour dough into the soup for the last 5 minutes and serve.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.