Hungarian Beef Paprikash

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Let me show you how to make the delicious Hungarian beef paprikash recipe step by step, where the meat will melt in your mouth, and you will enjoy all the flavours of this stew. The recipe is easy, similar to other stews, but with Hungarian flavours and ingredients, which makes it unique.

I learned this beef paprikash recipe a long time ago, one of the bases of Hungarian gastronomy, but I brought it with a few changes closer to our days; I also modernized it.

Whether we are talking about beef paprikash, beef stew or beef goulash, they all have similar recipes that change a little towards the end.

If other vegetables, such as carrots and potatoes, we add to the goulash, and it becomes more of a soup; the beef paprikash and the beef stew have no liquid and are thicker in consistency.

If you like beef stews, you can try my other recipes that are just as tasty, such as Dutch oven beef stew or the best homemade beef stew recipe and tell me which one you like better.

Ingredients

For four portions of Hungarian beef paprikash, I will use 700 g of lean diced beef, along with which I will use two medium-sized onions, one red bell pepper and two cloves of garlic.

The following is a longer list of ingredients with which I will season the dish but which will give the authentic flavour:

• sea salt is indispensable in any dish;
• ground pepper, which gives a spicy aroma;
• caraway seeds, an old ingredient in Hungarian cuisine;
• bay leaves, for its fragrance;
• tomato puree will thicken the dish and give it the flavour of tomatoes;
• Hungarian goulash paste is very good for this type of dish as well as in goulash;
• Hungarian paprika paste is indispensable in my kitchen, and I recommend it.

How to Make the Hungarian Beef Paprikash?

Prepare the Ingredients

I start every time with the preparation of the ingredients, so I will peel the onions and chop them finely; anyway, because I will cook the food for a long time, the onions will melt and will not be visible in the dish.

I will do the same with the red pepper, which I will cut into smaller cubes, and with the cloves of garlic, which can be finely chopped or pressed, as you wish.

Make the Stew

In stews, it is customary to fry the meat first until it forms a crust on the outside (hence the Hungarian name “Pörkölt”, which means fried, burnt), after which we remove the meat and fry the onion.

I will fry the onion in this recipe first, after heating about 100 ml of sunflower oil in a cast iron braising pan. In this recipe, as in other authentic Hungarian recipes, we do not use olive oil but rather pork or duck lard, which adds more flavour to the paprikash.

After sauteing the onion for about two minutes on medium heat, I add the pepper, chopped garlic, and a teaspoon of sea salt and saute them continuously for about three minutes.

I season with half of teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, a teaspoon of caraway seeds, and two bay leaves that I break in two to release their flavours better.

Now I add the cubed meat, which, thanks to the liquids released by the onions and peppers, will not be fried but will change its colour a little, and instead, beef will saute it.

Let it simmer on low heat in its own eliminated juice for about five minutes, stirring from time to time and turning the meat on each side to get colour, then add the rest of the ingredients.

Add two spoons of tomato paste, one teaspoon of gulyas paste, one teaspoon of pepper paste, another teaspoon of sea salt and ground pepper, and of course, three teaspoons of paprika, the primary Hungarian spice (this is where the name paprikash comes from).

Mix with a wooden spoon to homogenize and incorporate all the ingredients; pour about half a litre of vegetable stock or water over them to cover the meat and let it cook on low heat and under the lid for about an hour and a half.

From time to time, check and stir the paprikash so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pot and burn, and if the liquid evaporates too quickly, add a little more water.

Then it’s ready when the meat is soft and crumbles easily, and the liquid almost evaporates. If you want to give it a creamier consistency, you can add sour cream mixed with a bit of flour and get a delicious and creamy beef paprikash.

But I’ll stop here because this was my delicious Hungarian beef paprikash recipe, which filled my kitchen with flavours and aromas, and I warmly recommend you to try it.

Serve the Paprikash

In our family, we serve Hungarian beef paprikash with dumplings or with mashed potatoes. Still, you can also do it with another side dish like potatoes with parsley, pasta or polenta. The beef paprikash can also pair it with sun-pickled cucumbers or marinated roasted red peppers, which perfectly balances the flavours with their sour taste.

I really like stews and cook them very often; if you want them too, here is a list of some of my favourites that you can make because they are delicious:

• Hungarian Mushroom Paprikash;
• Pork and Sauerkraut Goulash;
• Turkey Cabbage Stew Recipe;
• Best Homemade Beef Stroganoff Recipe;
• Creamy Pork Stew Recipe;
• Creamy Homemade Chicken Stew Recipe;
• Hungarian Hunter’s Stew Recipe;
• Best Turkey Stew Recipe.

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