Our Cookbook

Hungarian

Pörkölt (Hungarian beef and onion stew)

The thick Hungarian paprika beef stew most UK cooks mean by "goulash" — not the brothy gulyás soup.

  • YieldServes 4
  • Prep20m
  • Cook1h 40m
  • Effortweekend

  • 4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 green pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 2 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 large tomato, finely diced
  • 700g stewing beef, cut into 1cm pieces
  • 4 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 0.25 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 0.5 tsp caraway seeds, coarsely crushed
  • 1 bay leaf
  • water

To serve

  • 4 portion nokedli, egg noodles or boiled potatoes

Method

  1. Fry the bacon in a heavy pot until done. Add the onion and cook over a medium-high heat until golden, then add the green pepper and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
  2. Add the beef and cook for 1 minute, until some pink remains. Stir in the paprika and immediately remove from the heat so it doesn’t burn and turn bitter.
  3. Add the tomato, salt, pepper, caraway and bay leaf, and pour in water to just above the halfway point (not covering the meat).
  4. Return to the heat, bring to the boil, then cover, reduce to a medium-low heat and simmer for 90 minutes.
  5. If needed, simmer uncovered for a few minutes to thicken, then adjust the salt.

Notes

Serve with nokedli (Hungarian egg dumplings), buttered egg noodles, boiled potatoes or rice; a cucumber salad alongside is traditional.