Hungarian Goulash Soup

Method

1. Cut the beef into 2 cm cubes and pat dry with kitchen paper. Finely chop the onion, crush the garlic and lightly crack the caraway seeds with the flat of a knife. Slice the carrot into 1 cm rounds; cut the potatoes into 2 cm cubes and keep them in cold water so they don't brown. Cut the pepper into thin strips and roughly chop the tomato.

2. Melt the lard in a heavy 20 cm pot on medium heat and cook the onion for 9 min, until soft, translucent and pale golden at the edges. These onions thicken and sweeten the broth; don't let them turn dark brown.

   Add in this stepLard (or vegetable oil) 1½ tbspLarge onion 1

   medium heat

3. Turn up to medium-high heat, add the beef and stir for 6 min, until the outside of every piece has turned grey and the meat releases its juices. Add the garlic and caraway and stir for 30 seconds more, until fragrant.

   Add in this stepBeef shin (or chuck) 300 gGarlic cloves 2Caraway seeds ½ tsp

   medium-high heat

4. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the paprika for 20–30 seconds to coat the meat. Paprika burns in seconds over direct heat and turns bitter, so always add it off the heat. Straight away add the water, bay leaves and half the salt, return the pot to high heat and bring to the boil (about 6 min). Skim off the foam, turn down to low heat and simmer with the lid slightly ajar for 1 h 5 min, until the beef is nearly tender and a fork goes in with just a little resistance.

   Add in this stepSweet paprika (Hungarian if possible) 3 tspWater 900 mlBay leaves 1Salt ½ tsp

   high heat→low heat

5. Add the drained potatoes, the carrot, pepper, tomato and the rest of the salt, and simmer on medium-low heat for 22 min more. It is done when a knife slides easily into the potatoes and the beef is tender. If it has reduced too much, top up with a little hot water to keep it soupy.

   Add in this stepMedium carrot 1Medium potato (about 150 g) 1½Green or pale yellow bell pepper 1Medium tomato 1Salt ½ tsp

   medium-low heat

6. Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves and season with black pepper and more salt if needed. Let it stand for 5 min so the flavours settle, then ladle into deep bowls. Add sliced fresh chilli if you like it hot, and serve with the bread.

   Add in this stepBlack pepper to tasteFresh hot chilli, to serve (optional) to tasteThick slices of crusty bread 2