Images Slow Cooked Beef Goulash

Slow-Cooked Beef Goulash

It was the perennial question - "what to cook for dinner". I had fresh beef. That helped a lot. At least it narrowed down the recipe search. Eve suggested that I make Goulash out of it, a paprika based stew with spices.

G-o-u-l-a-s-h ....sounds exotic. Why not!

I was skeptical about having only paprika in the stew. It seemed ...harsh somehow. There were many tug-of-wars in my mind about adding tomato into the mix - pureed, mashed, chopped and more tomato related thoughts. But I stuck it out and stayed on the paprika course. I was trying to be as "Hungarian" as possible! There were no regrets. It turned out fabulous.

Who knew that paprika could be more than just a pinch on anything...

A lot of flavours went into this stew so it's hard to describe the taste. I'll try! It's a little spicy but not as hot as I'd imagined and not the curry kind I was used to. A cross between chilli and pepper spiciness. Am I making any sense? All I can say is that it's addictive and goes nicely with the likes of naan, flatbread and even rice.

The recipe.

Ingredients:
- 500g beef (for stews, cut into chunks)
- 3 medium potatoes (peeled and diced)
- 1 cup diced pieces of pumpkin
- 1 red chili (halved and sliced into squares)
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 tbsp paprika powder
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 stalks fresh coriander (chopped)
- 2-3 dried bay leaves
- Salt, to taste
- 1-2 tbsp cooking oil
- 3 cups hot water, or more

The ingredients

How-to:

1) Season beef with a bit of salt. Leave aside.

2) Heat oil in pan. Saute the onions and garlic.

3) Add the beef. Fry until it's browned a little. Then, add the potatoes, pumpkin and chilli. Stir well.

4) Add paprika and brown sugar into the mix and stir well. Transfer all the ingredients into a slow cooker.

5) Add 3 cups hot water or more, along with fresh coriander and bay leaves. Cook on high for 3½ hours or longer. Into the second hour, I mashed some of the pumpkin pieces in the slow cooker using a spoon.

6) Taste and season with more salt if necessary, in the last ½ hour of cooking

Note: 3½ hours was enough for me. Meat is tender, but not falling apart.

Paprika goes in. Mix it well.

Into the slow cooker it goes, along with some water, coriander and bay leaves

Beef goulash and flatbread! Yum!

Images Vegemite Beef and Broccoli Sandwich

And then there are days I just don't know what I'm doing in the kitchen really. I'll be going, "Gosh, I'm hungry. I need sustenance." (a word I picked from up from Thor).

I should have just reached out for quick bread and jam, but when one is moved by the belly, one ends up complicating things with oo-I-should-add-this and oo-I should-add-that.

And then I take a step back and whoaa..what IS this!

..That's precisely how I landed myself with this beef and broccoli sandwich.

The Mega Broccoli and Beef Sandwich

This is the recipe, in the simplest form, because it wasn't something I planned with pen and paper.

I stir-fried onions and beef slices, and cooked it with a dollop of vegemite. Then, I felt guilty about it all being meat with no greens, so I boiled some broccoli florets to make it a balanced meal.

.....BUT broccoli on its own felt like a weird combination. I decided to fry it in egg, seasoned with a wee bit of salt and pepper.

Then, I toasted two slices of sandwich bread, spread the beef on it, followed by the broccoli and voila! Lunch finally gets served. I look at the time and slap my forehead.

Vegemite Beef

Broccoli fried in egg

Vegemite Beef and Broccoli Sandwich