I had to work quickly and get this posted early this month because, somewhat similar to an installation piece, my submission requires audience participation and I need to make sure anyone willing to participate has time to do so.
When the topic of Delicious was announced one thing came to mind immediately and so forcefully it would be impossible for me to even come up with an alternative.
So, I would like to present to you:
Delicious Goulash For Insert Credit[1]
Coming from an Austrian family, Goulash has been in my life for as long as I have been eating solid foods. My family recipe is based around beef, but in order to try and be more inclusive I have adapted it to be entirely vegan. I’ve also substituted out a small amount of alcohol that is usually used.
This recipe is rather forgiving on exact measures, so don’t worry too much. Most of the time I don’t measure everything and go by feel now, but I’ve made this dish a large amount of times. The sharpness can be tweaked up or down by using more or less hot paprika, or perhaps adding an extra 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
Ingredients
Goulash:
- 3 brown onions (2 if very large)
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon of ginger, grated or minced
- 750g - 1kg of waxy potatoes
- 1 can chickpeas (420gram, approx 15oz)
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1/3 - 1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 - 1.5 teaspoons hot paprika
- 1 star anise
- 1/2 teaspoon majoram (can be replaced by “mixed herbs” if you cannot get majoram)
- approx 3 tablespoons plain flour (maybe called AP where you are)
- 1/3 cup apple juice
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1 large bay leaf, torn in half (or two small leaves)
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- water
Knödel:
- 1 loaf of bread (I use a basic wholemeal loaf, use anything you like)
- 1 brown onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup parsely, chopped
- 1 cup unsweetened plant-based milk substitute (I use oat milk, almond might also work)
- 6 tablespoons plain flour
- 2 tablespoons self raising flour
- olive oil
Directions:
Goulash:
Cut potato in to 5cm (about 2") cubes
Add enough olive oil to cover bottom of heavy base pot. I use an enamelled cast iron pot.
Heat oil low to medium and add onions, ginger, and garlic
Stir until onion becomes soft and translucent, taking care not to burn them.
Add all the paprika, star anise, grind of salt (approx 1/2 teaspoon?), good grind of pepper (about 20 cranks from my pepper mill), majoram.
Stir until well mixed and fragrant, careful not to burn the spices. Likely about 30 seconds worth.
Add potatoes to the pot, and stir to cover them.
Add apple juice to deglaze, simmer for approximately a minute to bring up to temperature and reduce ever so slightly.
Add half of the vegetable stock, increase heat slightly, keep stirring.
Add flour in small amounts - mixture may appear slightly gluggy, thats ok…
Add remaining stock slowly until you have a thick sauce
(If mixture is too thick, add water, if too thin add flour. This is largely a matter of personal preference for how thick or thin you prefer the dish to be)
Add balsamic, soy, bay leaf.
Stir, lower heat until just barely cooking. Use the lowest burner/setting your stovetop has.
Put lid on, stir on every now and then. Just want to make sure nothing gets stuck to the bottom too much.
After about 40-60 minutes, add chickpeas.
Cook for another approximately 2 hours, stirring on occasion, until potatoes are cooked through when you test with a fork.
Discard star anise and bay leaf.
Can be served right away, but ideally you should let it cool and then store in the fridge overnight. The next day, reheat in the same pot and serve.
Can be served on its own, accompanied by your favourite (preferably crusty) bread. Can also be served with rice. Ideally however, it is served with:
Knödels:
Cut bread in to 2cm (about 1") cubes.
Knödel typically are made with old, stale bread.
If you have the time and patience for it, leave bread in open basket to dry out, turning once a day.
If not, we can dry the bread out in the oven. Preheat oven to 90C / 195F, and place bread on a lined baking sheet. Mix/flip bread on tray after 10 or so minutes, and keep checking until the bread seems dry (as if it had gone stale).
Put bread in a bowl large enough to hold it all with some clearance.
Pour oat/almond milk over bread, give a quick mix, and cover with cling wrap tightly
Check after about 45 minutes, if bread is still a bit dry add more milk
Shake bowl, turn it upside down and let it stand until bread is soaked
(about 45 mins - 1 hour more)
Place onion and garlic in small frying pan with olive oil.
Low heat, cook until soft (do not brown!).
Just before taking it off the heat, stir in parsley
Allow mixture to cool, stir in to bread.
Add both flours, mix through.
Mixture should be a little moist, if too moist add more flour.
Squash mixture in to balls a little smaller than a tennis ball
(or whatever size you feel like). Make sure they are pretty firm, they will expand when cooking.
Put a small amount of plain flour in a bowl or dish, and roll knödels in flour to lightly cover all over.
Place knödels in steamer and cook for 15 minutes
Serve by cutting 1 or 2 in half and spooning goulash over the top.
Knödel can be frozen uncooked and steamed from frozen, just add 3-5 minutes to steaming time.
In Summary:
I would like to invite you to attempt making (and eating!) this dish, as my submission for this month's Art Jam.
I posted a modified and updated version a year later over in the recipe thread ↩︎