This is the classic variant of goulash. It is very easy to prepare, though it does take some time as it has to cook for several hours. Its delicious and I do cook it far too rare.

Ingredients

• 600g beef
• 600g onions
• 3 tbsp sweet paprika powder
• some thyme leaves
• 3 garlic cloves
• salt & pepper to taste
• optional: some chili
• optional: 5-10 tbsp water

Instructions

Cut the onions in slices. Wash the meat and cut it in bigger chunks. Add some oil to a big pot and fry the onions at full heat. They do not have to get golden, but they should get soft and a bit glassy.

Remove the onions from the pot, add a bit of oil and fry the meat. It does not need to get a lot of color, just fry until you do not see a lot of raw meat on the sides of the chunks.

Add the onions and the paprika powder. The powder may stick to the bottom of the pot very fast, so stir constantly. Once you notice that it starts sticking you can add some water. Note that you do not need to add this, you can also just close the pot and reduce the heat a bit earlier. If you like your goulash more stew like, do not add water. If you like it more liquid add 10 tbsp of water.

Let the closed pot simmer for about 2 hours at low heat. Afterward, open the pot and let it thicken in for an hour or so.

Best served with some “Spätzle”

Tips

• Do not use too much oil for frying the onions and the meat. It makes things easier at the beginning, but too much oil in the goulash is not something you want to go for.
• If there is too much liquid left you can use a slurry to thicken it up. Mix one tbsp of cold water and starch. Stir that in under the fully cooked goulash.

Next time…

• Try to make a fast version in the pressure cooker. Use a few tbsp of water in addition to the rest of the stuff, let it cook for about an hour. Afterwards, thicken it in with a slurry (described above in tips). That way you will loose some aroma from not frying onions and meat up front, but you will save a lot of time. Not sure if it is worth it, gotta try.