Hungarian Goulash

Hello Everyone!

Today I’m sharing with you one of Hungary’s national treasures, the mouth-watering Hungarian Goulash, which is made of pork.

It is served in every Hungarian restaurant and all Hungarian households.  Most people keep to the original recipe, but some of the brave ones add a little something to it to make it their own.  Today I’m sharing with you the original recipe, but you may add such things as chipotle peppers, chipotle oil instead of olive oil etc.

Many people (even today) use lard instead of oil to make this dish, however you can create an authentic Goulash the healthy way by using olive or grape seed oil.

INGREDIENTS

500 grams of pork 🐖 shoulder, cut into cubes
1 large onion, peeled, chopped
1 large 🍅 tomato, peeled, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 chili 🌶 pepper, sliced
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp red paprika powder (sweet)
2 tbsp olive oil

TIP

Remove the stem and seeds of the bell peppers.

You may use jalapeño pepper or any other hot peppers instead of chili 🌶 pepper.  👩🏻‍🍳Remember to always wash peppers, tomatoes and of course any meat that you would be cooking.

PREPARE GOULASH

Place oil, onion, peppers, tomato and garlic in large pot; sauté on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Remove pot from heat and stir in red paprika; mix well; add salt, stir, return to heat and add meat. Stir and sauté for about 5 minutes, then add enough 💦 water to cover meat completely.

Cook meat until tender, if needed add more 💦 water.

Serve with Hungarian “nokedli” which is a type of spaetzle. However you may also serve it with your favorite side dish such as boiled 🥔 potatoes, rice, pasta etc.

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Harissa Pot Roast a ‘la Helen

Hello Everyone!

I know it’s been a while, but summer has always been a busy season for me and my cookbooks :).  But I promise I will try to make time for my blog and send you lots of delicious recipes.

Today’s dish is something I made up the other day when I couldn’t decide what to cook  and the end result  proved that you don’t always need a recipe to create a delicious, mouth-watering dinner for your family.

Many times when you see a beautiful cut of meat or find an exotic spice in your grocery store, you  are inspired.  I know I am, and this was one of those times.  Give it a try and I can assure you that you will have another go-to-recipe in your repertoire.

INGREDIENTS (for 2)

2 slices of well marbled pork (shoulder or other cuts)
1 large red onion, peeled, thickly sliced
3 large leeks (cut off green part and stem, cut lengthwise, wash, thickly slice)
2 cups of roughly cut wild mushrooms
2 tbsp. olive oil at the bottom of the pan
1 tbsp. for sauce
4-5 tbsp. of spicy ketchup
1 tsp fresh thyme for sauce
6 blades of fresh thyme (if you don’t have you may use dry)
1 tsp salt for meat
1 tsp ground black pepper for meat
1 small can of harissa paste
1 tbsp. Worchester sauce

TIP

I used a bone-in shoulder steak for this dish, however you may use any cut of pork that you enjoy, but remember, that it needs to be well marbled.

PREPARATION

Wash meat, pat-dry, sprinkle with the salt and black pepper; spread 2 tbsp. of olive oil in an oven safe baking dish.

Spread sliced leeks all over the bottom of the dish; place the meat on top; spread the mushroom all over the meat; sprinkle with thyme.

Mix together ketchup, Worchester sauce, 1 tbsp. olive oil and harissa paste. Spread all over meat; add the blades of thyme. Cover with aluminium foil.

Pre-heat oven to 375F and bake for about 1 1/2 or until desired tenderness of the meat is reached.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

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How To Make & Serve Hungarian Goulash

Hello Everyone!

Yes, I know I’ve written many times about Hungarian Goulash and this is another one of those posts, but I keep getting e-mails about people confusing Hungarian Goulash (which is called Pörkölt in Hungarian) and Hungarian Goulash Soup (which is Gulyas Leves in Hungarian).

The culprit is Google Translate as for some reason it keeps confusing people by giving them the wrong term.  The other problem is the language barrier.

So, here I share with you one of my old blog posts and hopefully it will help.

Throughout the ages Hungarian food has always fascinated people regardless of their heritage. The most famous of them all is the fiery Hungarian Goulash, the national dish of Hungary. It’s hard to believe that Goulash wasn’t always painted red by red paprika powder.

Herdsmen of Hungary, “Goulash” in Hungarian cooked “Goulash Meats” in their cauldrons over fires on the great Hungarian plains. There were many varieties and none of them resembled todays world famous version.

Hungarians did not know the paprika plant until the Ottomans invaded Hungary in 1526. During the 15th century they brought with them exotic spices and the still loved coffee plant, that made Budapest Café Houses flourish in later centuries.  

The paprika plant also came to Hungary at the same time. First these beautiful pants were mostly decorative, but slowly it found its way into the kitchens of the Hungarian peasants and the cauldrons of the herdsmen.

They had more contact with the invading Ottomans and learned from them how to dry and ground the fruit of the paprika plant, and started using the fiery red powder to spice their dishes, including the “Goulash Meat”. Hungarian Goulash as we know it today, was born.

 

Now a little science(don’t worry not much)Capsicum pepper, used to create “paprika powder” is unusually high in vitamin “C” this fact was discovered in 1932 by Albert Szent-Gyorgyi was awarded the Nobel prize for the discovery. Much of the vitamin “C” content is retained in the paprika, which contain more vitamin “C” than lemon juice by weight. Paprika is also very high in antioxidant, containing about 10% of the level found in Acai Berries. In my following blogs learn the magic of this wonderful spice as it breaths colour into many of our favourite dishes.

I will share with you the most cherished recipe of Hungarian Goulash passed down from generation to generation in my family. Don’t worry, it you don’t like hot and spicy food, simply leave out the hot paprika.

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INGREDIENTS

• 500 grams of pork shoulder, washed, cut into 1 inch sized cubes
• 1 large onion, peeled, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• 2 tbsp. of sweet red paprika powder
• 1/2 tsp hot chili pepper flakes or 4 slices of fresh
• 1 tsp salt
• 1tsp smoked red paprika powder
• 3 tbsp. of olive oil

Place oil in a medium stock pot, add onion, tomato, garlic, pepper and sauté for about 2-3 minutes on medium high heat. Add red paprika, smok3ed paprika and stir fast, add meat, salt, hot peppers and sauté for another 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add enough water to cover meat, roughly about 1 cup.

Cook on medium high heat for about 40-45 minutes. Check liquid, if needed add another 1/2 cup of hot water. If you add cold the meat will stiffen. If meat is tender serve with “nokedli” which are Hungarian egg noddle droplets or boiled, cubed potatoes.

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“Nokedli” Hungarian Egg Noddle Droplets

3 cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1/4 cup of water

1 spätzle maker as seen in video

Place flour in a mixing bowl, add salt, eggs and water. You need to get a sticky batter. Mix with a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes. Almost beating it. Follow my video to cook. Place 5 cups of water and 1 tablespoon salt in a large stock pot to cook “nokedli”. When ‘nokedli” floats to the top, ready to scoop out with a draining spoon. You are ready for the next batch. When all done, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to it, mix well and serve with goulash.

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Boiled Potatoes

4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
2 teaspoon salt

4 cups of water

Cook potatoes until soft, not mushy. Drain, place in a bowl, add 1 tablespoons of olive oil, and serve with Goulash. Hungarians also eat Goulash with pickles, pickled peppers or the most popular way is with “Hungarian Cucumber Salad” as seen on photo.

 

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Hungarian Cucumber Salad

1 English cucumber, sliced (or any cucumber)

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons of white vinegar

1.5 cups of water

Slice cucumbers, place them in a glass mixing bowl, mix salt into it, and let stand for about 5 minutes. Add sugar, vinegar, water, mix well and serve instead of pickles. If you’d like it a little more sour add a little vinegar.

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You can also make Hungarian Sour Cream Cucumber Salad.

1 large English cucumber, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled, sliced
1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons of sour cream

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dry dill weed

Slice cucumbers, place them in a glass mixing bowl, add salt, mix well. Let stand for 5 minutes. Now add sour cream, garlic, dill. Mix well and serve.

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LECSO – Hungarian Ratatouille

Hello Everyone!

Today’s recipe is an old-time-favorite in Hungary.  There are few ways to make this mouth-watering dish and I will share with you the most popular and original way to re-create it.

I know I said this many times, but you will fall in love with the rustic elegance of this traditional Hungarian dish.

INGREDIENTS

• 4-5 Hungarian white peppers or colored bell peppers (red, yellow, orange, green) stems and seeds removed; sliced
• 1 large onion, peeled, sliced
• 3 large or 4 medium sized tomatoes, sliced
• 1 long or 2 smaller link of Hungarian sausage (or any red smoked sausage with red paprika, such as chorizo) sliced
• 1 tbsp. of olive oil
• 3 eggs, whisked together lightly with a fork

TIP

Please remember when you add sausage to Hungarian Lecso, you don’t add any salt because the salt content of the sausage is enough for the entire dish.

Place olive oil into a large skillet; add sausage and sauté for 2-3 minutes while stirring once.  Add everything, EXCEPT  the eggs.  The eggs are put aside after you cracked and whisked them together with a pinch of salt. 

Cook dish on medium high heat for about 25-30 minutes or until peppers are soft and the liquid is almost gone.  If you have too much liquid, please cook until it’s reduced to almost none.  Add eggs and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes while stirring continuously.

Remove and serve with crusty bread.

TIP

Vegetarians could use veggie sausages or leave out the sausage altogether.

SOME FACTS

Perhaps one of the most popular dishes of Hungary is Lecso (pronounced: Lecho) or Hungarian Ratatouille with Hungarian smoked sausages, that breath life to this unique and original dish.The interesting fact about Lecso is that accept for the sausages, its ingredients are the bases for Hungarian Goulash, Hungarian Goulash Soup, Potato Paprikash, Chicken Paprikash, Hungarian Fish Soup and many more mouth-watering recipes from the goulash family. All painted bright red by Hungary’s National Spice the Hungarian Red Paprika.

TIP

I always like to prepare everything before I start cooking. It saves time during the busy dinner hour. Slice sausages, peppers, onion, tomatoes and chilli peppers. If you can’t find Hungarian smoked sausages, you may use kind of smoked sausages.

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Pork Roll

Hello Everyone!

I created this tasty pork roll as part of a family celebration a few years ago.

Everyone loved it so much that my family demands it as part of every Easter celebration, however it could be part of your weekly meal plan as well.

I you think that making your own filling would be too difficult than perhaps buy your favorite fresh sausage meat (or sausage & remove casing).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pack of bacon
• 4-5 fresh sausages (remove casings)
• 1 tbsp. of chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
• 1 tsp smoked red paprika powder (or plain red paprika powder)
• 1 tsp hot chili pepper flakes (leave out if you don’t like spicy)
• 2 cloves of grated garlic
• toothpicks

Lay the bacon slice flat on the counter or on a cutting board; spread with the sausage meat; roll up and secure each with one or two toothpicks. 

Try it and you’ll love it. Simply bake at 375F for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven, let rest for 10 minutes and serve with your favorite side dish.

As it is very versatile. It can also be cooked in some water for about 30 minutes. Remove from liquid and dispose of the cooking water. For a fast dish.

Add one can of wild mushroom soup into your cooking pot. Also add 1 teaspoon of mustard, 1 spring of thyme (only the leaves) and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add meat back into the pot. Warm for about 3-5 minutes and serve with fettuccini or rice. These wonderful and versatile little rolls also freeze well. I usually pack them in “Glad’s Press ‘n Seal” for a cheaper option for vacuum sealing. They keep for months. Pack them in packs of two for easy portioning. You don’t have to use a mushroom sauce, you may use any of your favourites even Alfredo or Rosé .

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Oven Roasted Pork & Potatoes

Hello Everyone!

Who doesn’t like roasted potatoes or pork?  Well, not many people. I guess vegetarians must put up their hand 🙂 but this dish is definitely not for them.

It’s great for lunch or dinner as its rustic goodness warms your heart and soul.  I made it for 2 this time, however the recipe that I’m sharing with is for 4.

Hello, I’m Helen M. Radics and my mouth-watering, rustic Oven Roasted Pork & Potatoes could be served as lunch or dinner. 

INGREDIENTS FOR MEAT (for 4)

4 slices of well marbled pork (not pork chops)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chipotle pepper flakes (or chili pepper flakes)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tbsp. of your favorite olive oil (I used chipotle olive oil)

FOR POTATOES

20 baby carrots, washed
1 onion, peeled, sliced
10 yellow fleshed potato (or any kind you like), peeled, cut in half
2 slices of bacon cut in strips
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp chipotle or chili pepper flakes

TIP

Always remove the eyes of the potatoes

RECIPE

Always wash and pat dry meat. Mix together spices, salt and oil; rub into meat and place in an oven safe dish or pan. Pour 1/2 cup of water in pan. Pre-heat oven to 375F (about 180C).

Wash potatoes, remove eyes and cut in half. Mix together salt, spices and oil. Placed washed potatoes, carrots, onion slices and bacon into an over safe baking pan. Pour oil mixture over it and using hands or a large spoon coat all the potatoes, carrots, onion and bacon with it. add 1/2 cup of water.

After meat has been in the oven for 30 minutes, add 1/2 cup of more water. Bake meat and potatoes until desired tenderness is reached. Meat about 1 hour and potatoes about 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

TIP

You may reduce baking time for the potatoes if you pre-cook them for about 10 minutes.

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Meatloaf Wellington by Helen M. Radics

Hello Everyone!

I’m currently working on my new cookbook, but I guess I’m always working on a new cookbook 🙂  Well, I started grouping together recipes that I will include in it.

One of my old time favorites is my Meatloaf Wellington that I came up with many years ago after my family kept asking for Beef Wellington and Meatloaf.  They could never agree so I decided to come up with something new that everyone will equally love.

Meatloaf Wellington

So a new dish was born that everyone finally agreed upon.  You can use ground pork, beef, chicken or turkey as this recipe is not set in stone.  You can add your own favorite spices and make it a family favorite at your house.

Hungarian Goulash

Le me share with you one of my nations best loved recipes, Hungarian Goulash,

which is considered another Hungarian National Treasure.

Hungarian food has always fascinated people regardless of their nationality.  The mouth-watering Hungarian Goulash has been topic of conversation around the dinner table for generations. Today, I will share with you the original recipe for the basic Hungarian Goulash made with pork. I will also include the history of Hungarian Goulash in my next blog.  

Hungarian Goulash is a very simply dish.  It is easy to prepare and the basics apply to all Hungarian Goulashes, as they could be made with pork, beef, lamb, goat, chicken, mushroom, eggs and potatoes (see Potato Paprikash) .   I should also point out that Hungarian Goulash and Hungarian Goulash Soup are two different dishes.  In Hungary “Goulash” (Gulyas in Hungarian) refers to a stew and is made with vegetables and pork.

However, outside the borders of Hungary, Goulash refers to what Hungarians call “Pörkölt” and is a main dish consisting of the following:

• 1 large onion, peeled, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 small green pepper (cubannelle or bell) cored, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of sweet red paprika
• 1 teaspoon of smoked red paprika (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red chilly peppers or chipotle pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 500 grams of pork shoulder

STEP ONE

Place oil, tomatoes, peppers and onion in a large stock pot.  Sauté for 5 minutes, remove from heat;  add red paprika, smoked paprika, pepper flakes and stir well.

STEP TWO

Place back onto burner; add salt, meat and enough water to cover meat.  Cook on medium low heat for 1 hour.  Add 1 cup of warm water 30 minutes into cooking.  If meat reached the desired tenderness, adjust seasoning and cook down until the liquid resembles a thick gravy (as seen on video).

STEP THREE

Serve with “Nokedli” which is a Hungarian egg noodle made with spetzle make or with boiled potatoes and pickles.