We’ve just passed the 7-year anniversary of starting this project (April 16)…and I’m still nowhere near done. This is going to take me the rest of my life at this rate, I think.
A dish that WON’T take you the rest of your life to complete (notice my flawless segue there) is 8-30: Hungarian Goulash. It’s supposedly a dish for cold days, which are quickly becoming few and far between here in California now that it’s almost May. However, if you’ve still got a touch of cold where you are (or maybe your hemisphere is heading towards winter instead of summer), this might be a good option.
Hungarian goulash is very well-known outside of Simply Delicious…in fact, it’s Hungary’s national dish. ?? Many countries have versions of it due to various Hungarian diasporas over the last few centuries. You may know the modern American version better as American chop suey, slumgullion, or maybe Hamburger Helper?
They mention on the front of the card that this can be prepared in an hour, but in the TIPS section, they tell you to prepare it the day before for the flavors to blend. They’re right–that would probably make it taste better, but that’s true of almost all soups/stews.
Ingredients. I’m using meatless “beef” tips since that’s the easiest substitution, but I think swapping in potatoes instead of meat could be a good meatless option as well (if you are so inclined). I’m also using some of my homemade “porq” chops to keep the “two meat” part of the dish going.
Instead of chili sauce or tomato puree, I’m going with my adjika sauce that I used in 7-17: Piquant Pork Chops, since it seemed to be appropriate for the dish.
Yet another picture of chopped onions.
Red and green peppers, broken down and ready to go.
Cubing my porq, since the “beef” is already in cube form.
“Meat” and veggies, together in the pan.
With added spices. Most of the other “Hungarian goulash” recipes I looked at while writing this post included caraway–not Simply Delicious.
Here’s an extra pan picture that includes the cumin I forgot for the ingredients picture.
After adding the water and pepper sauce. Looks like what I picture when I think of “Hungarian goulash”.
Americans tend to serve their goulash with pasta–Simply Delicious suggests rice. For my version, I went with quinoa.
Plated up for lunches throughout the week–we’re still meal-prepping when we can. It made a pretty decent lunch without a ton of effort, which is a nice change from most of these “recipes”.
Are there more authentic/better versions of this dish out there? Of course. But this one isn’t terrible, as Simply Delicious adaptations go.
Grade: B+
