Gulyásleves
Beef goulash soup
Gulyásleves: Hungarian beef goulash soup with paprika and potatoes
Real Hungarian goulash is a soup, gulyásleves, born in the cattle herders' kettles of the Great Plain and still cooked over open fires at summer festivals and in every csárda (country inn) between Budapest and Debrecen. Beef shin or chuck simmers with lots of onion, sweet paprika, caraway and green pepper until tender, then potatoes and carrots go in. It is brothy, rich red and gently spicy, eaten with fresh bread. Chef's tip: take the pot off the heat before adding the paprika; it burns in seconds in hot fat and turns bitter.
- Total time
- 145 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the soup
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil or lard
- 3 onionsfinely chopped
- 1 ¾ lb beef shin or chuckcut into 2 cm cubes
- 2 tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika
- ½ tsp hot paprika
- 1 tsp caraway seedscrushed
- 3 cloves garliccrushed
- 1 tomatochopped
- 1 Hungarian wax or green peppersliced
- 7 ¼ cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 carrotsdiced
- 1 parsnipdiced
- 1 ⅛ lb potatoes2 cm dice
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 fresh red chilli (optional)sliced, to serve
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (7)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil or lard in a large heavy pot over a medium heat and cook 3 onions slowly for 12 minutes until soft and golden.
12 minStep 2: Raise the heat, add 1 ¾ lb beef shin or chuck and stir for 6–8 minutes until it loses its raw colour on all sides.
8 minStep 3: Take the pot off the heat and stir in 2 tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika, ½ tsp hot paprika, 1 tsp caraway seeds and 3 cloves garlic for 30 seconds. A common mistake is adding paprika over the flame; it scorches and the soup tastes bitter.
1 minStep 4: Return to the heat, add 1 tomato, 1 Hungarian wax or green pepper, 1 bay leaf and 250 ml of the 7 ¼ cups water. Cover and stew gently for 1 hour, adding a little more water whenever it gets dry, until the beef is nearly tender.
60 minStep 6: Remove the bay, taste for salt, and serve hot with 1 fresh red chilli on the side. Cool leftovers within 2 hours and reheat until piping hot.
2 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 360 kcal
- Protein
- 32 g
- Carbs
- 28 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Fibre
- 5 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does gulyásleves take?
- About 145 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 120 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onions?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of hungarian sweet paprika?
- Smoked paprika, half the amount.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Tiyula itumBlack beef soup
Tiyula itum, 'black soup', is the pride of the Tausug people of Sulu in the far south of the Philippines, cooked for weddings, Eid celebrations and when guests come home. Beef (it is a halal, pork-free dish) is simmered with ginger, lemongrass and turmeric, then darkened with pamapa itum, a paste of grated coconut toasted until almost black and pounded with spices. The broth looks dramatic but tastes smoky, earthy and gently peppery, with heat from chillies. Serve it with plain rice. Chef's tip: toast the coconut slowly, stirring all the time, until it is very dark brown but not ashy; burnt-to-ash coconut tastes bitter and ruins the soup.
Filipino
Ful nabitSprouted fava bean soup
Sprouted beans are ladled out with their cooking liquor in Cairo homes when the weather turns cold or someone is feeling run down, and Egyptians swear by the broth as a pick-me-up. The beans are soaked and left to sprout for a few days, then simmered with onion, garlic and cumin into a light, earthy soup that is sharpened at the table with plenty of lemon. You can eat the beans with a spoon or pop them from their skins. Allow 3 to 4 days for sprouting, although the hands-on work is only about 20 minutes. People with G6PD deficiency (favism) must not eat fava beans. Chef's tip: stop the sprouting when the shoots are about 1 cm long; longer sprouts taste grassy and bitter.
Egyptian
BabboucheSpiced snail broth
After dark in Marrakech's great square, the babbouche stalls are recognisable by their steaming cauldrons and the toothpicks laid out by every bowl. Small land snails simmer in a dark broth of liquorice root, aniseed, thyme, caraway, bitter orange peel, chilli and a bundle of herbs that sellers say has fifteen ingredients, believed to soothe the stomach and warm you on a cold night. You pick the snails out with a toothpick, then drink the peppery, herbal, faintly sweet broth. At home, buy live snails sold for cooking, already purged by a reputable seller, discard any with broken shells or that do not move or retract when touched, and cook them through for at least 45 minutes. Chef's tip: keep the spices in a muslin bag; the broth stays clear and you avoid crunching on seeds.
Moroccan