Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: Skip on June 22, 2008, 10:11

Title: Polish Goulash Recipe
Post by: Skip on June 22, 2008, 10:11
G’Day All!

Here is my mother’s own recipe for Polish Goulash.  The flavor sensations are sublime, yet it contains virtually no grease so could not be healthier!  As it is served with a carbohydrate-rich accompaniment like spuds, pasta, rice or couscous it stretches the budget a loooong way.

POLISH GOULASH

Ingredients

3 large brown onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 bell peppers, roughly chopped
3 hot chiles, finely chopped
1½kg (3lbs) gravy beef, or meat of choice
375ml (1½ cups) dry red cooking wine
2 cups tomato juice (home-made if possible)
1 cup dried mushrooms
Maggi seasoning to taste
freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
olive oil
butter
2 or 3 bay leaves
1 small leek
2 sticks of celery
few sprigs of parsley
1 tsp soy sauce (optional)
rock or sea salt
2 tsp chicken booster (optional)
2 tsp beef booster (optional)
2 tsp cornstarch (cornflour)

Method

The night before you want to make this recipe soak the mushrooms in cold water (Cepes and Bolets are the very best but regular ones are OK - fresh mushrooms have a different texture and are not as good in this recipe).  The next day carefully strain off the water through a fine sieve and retain.  Rinse the mushrooms well several times to remove any sand that may be lurking.

Add the oil and butter to a large frypan.  Sauté the onions until transparent then add the garlic.  Wash the meat well, dry it, cut off the fat and dice it into bite-sized chunks.  Add to the frypan with the onions and garlic and bay leaves and cook on high heat, stirring regularly, until all the liquid has evaporated and the meat is slightly browned.

Add the tomato juice, wine, strained mushroom water, bell peppers, hot chiles, the re-hydrated mushrooms, chicken and beef booster, black pepper, soy sauce, Maggi seasoning and salt.  Cook until boiling point is reached.

Tie up the parsley sprigs and leeks and add to the bottom of a crock pot with the celery sticks.  Pour the contents of the frypan into the crock pot and cook on high for two to three hours until done, stirring regularly (if you do not have a crock pot simmer on the stove until ready).  When the meat is tender it is ready.  Remove the parsley, leeks and celery sticks.  Very importantly, taste the sauce to see if it has the right balance and, if necessary, adjust the seasoning or add more Maggi seasoning etc.  Finally, mix the all-purpose flour and cornstarch to a paste with some of the juices from the crockpot and stir it in well.  Bring to boiling point again to thicken it and the goulash is ready.  Serve by itself or over hot pasta, steamed or boiled potatoes, cooked rice or even couscous if desired.  Delicious!  You will find that this dish not only tastes fantastic but rich too.  It isn’t!  There is virtually not a scrap of fat in this recipe so it will not clog up the old arteries; all the more reason to partake of it regularly and copiously! LOL

Note:   Other cuts of meat which go well in this recipe are shoulder cuts of beef, lamb, venison, antelope, elk, moose and goat.  When this dish is prepared using venison or antelope it comes out fantastic and the meat has a flavor all its own which is in no way strong.

If you do not have access to home-grown tomatoes use canned Italian or Greek peeled tomatoes and pass them through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Maggi seasoning is a vegetable extract concentrate made in Asia these days - http://www.thetasteofasia.com/products.asp.  It is available in supermarkets Down Under but in Britain may be sold thru specialty shops such as delis, fine butcher shops, specialty food stores etc.  It is worth searching for as it is a terrific flavor enhancer.