Hungarian Goulash (adapted from Donal Skehan's Good Mood Food Blog

Hungarian Goulash – adapted from a recipe by Donal Skehan

For 6 people

750g steak pieces
4 large onions (or a mix of onion and leek)
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tbl olive oil
1 generous tbl flour (use spelt flour if you are wheat intolerant)
1 generous tablespoon of Hungarian paprika (or good Spanish paprika)
1 teaspoon of chilli flakes or 1 fresh chilli or 1 tablespoon of hot paprika
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
Salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees or Gas Mark 1
Heat the oil in a large casserole pot and brown the beef on all sides. Do this in small batches

Take the meat out of the casserole and leave to one side

Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft and caramelised – again you may have to do this in batches if your dish hasn’t a wide enough base to leave you with only a couple of layers of onion.

Return the meat to the pot and stir in the paprika, chilli (if using it) and flour to coat

Add the tomatoes and the puree, and salt and pepper, and bring to a gentle simmer point.

Put in the oven and allow to cook for about 2 hours, until the meat is tender; the 2 hours is likely to be the minimum time needed to tenderise the beef - it will taste even better if you cook it for two hours the day before you intend eating it, and then cooking for about a further 30 minutes to an hour .