Our article will talk about how to cook beef goulash with gravy. This dish cannot be called unusual, new or trendy, but this is its peculiar charm.
Once upon a time, beef goulash was a much more common dish, so you could taste it in preschool institutions and schools, student and factory canteens, buffets, restaurants and cafes. In Soviet times, this dish was prepared according to GOSTs, so the taste of goulash was almost the same everywhere. Modern cooking lovers have much more room for creativity.
Let's look at some great goulash recipes, each of which has its own advantages.
Dish features
Goulash is considered a Hungarian dish. However, the traditional recipe has greatly changed. In the old days in Hungary, potatoes, bacon, bell peppers, and fresh tomatoes were added to this dish. And today, the Hungarians know a slightly different goulash, not quite the same as is common in the post-Soviet space. It is served not as gravy with pieces of meat, but in the form of a thick soup.
Surely all options for beef goulash with gravy are good. The step-by-step recipes presented in our article will help you learn how to cook this dish.
Pay attention to the photo. Goulash is a harmonious union of tender meat stewed to softness with a thick aromatic sauce.
Given the relatively high cost of food at the present time, it can easily be attributed to the festive cuisine. Yes, and his taste is consistent with this.
The complexity of the process is average, but it will take a lot of time. Therefore, modern housewives prefer to treat guests with a goulash at a solemn feast or serve this dish for a Sunday family dinner. But, of course, you can cook goulash on weekdays. This treat will definitely bring a lot of pleasant moments to them.
How to choose the best products?
Before you cook goulash with beef gravy, it is advisable to go to the market or to a specialty store. It is worth giving preference to homemade meat, with a rich taste and well-defined texture.
For goulash, choose any part without bones and fatty layers. Suitable beef or veal carcasses. The meat should have a rich shade and a pleasant fresh smell.
Before starting with a sharp knife, remove all the fascia, veins, fat and cartilage.
We also need vegetables. For different recipes, their list is different. In any case, they should be fresh and dull, and especially good seasonal, only torn from the beds.
Classic goulash recipe
Hungarians add celery, paprika and other seasonings to the right goulash with beef gravy. You can follow their example or pick up your favorite spices. Do not choose too active ingredients for this dish. For example, suneli hops or a mixture of herbs is best left to other dishes. The goulash should be dominated by the taste of meat.
If you have never cooked this dish, use the following recipe. It is simple, but the result is excellent.
You will need such products:
- 500 g of beef meat;
- 1 carrot;
- 1 medium onion;
- 1 tbsp. l tomato paste;
- 1 tbsp. l flour;
- 1 tbsp. l sour cream;
- vegetable oil;
- salt, bay leaf, peppercorns to taste.
Before cooking beef goulash with gravy, pass the flour in a dry frying pan and transfer it to a bowl. Cut the meat with finger-sized blocks, grate the carrots on a medium grater, chop the onions into cubes.
Sauté the beef in a preheated oil pan. No need to try to bring the meat to readiness, you just have to wait for the golden color. Transfer to a saucepan, stew vegetables on the remaining fat.
Combine the fried ingredients, add flour and spices, add the pasta and sour cream. If the gravy seems too thick, add some broth or water.
Put the stew out on a small fire. Cooking time - at least an hour. Beef should be soft. Remember to stir goulash occasionally.
Frying pan
This method helps to cope with the task even faster. The approximate proportions of products indicated in the first recipe, you already know. But for cooking beef goulash with gravy in a pan, neither flour nor sour cream is needed. And tomato paste can be replaced with fresh tomatoes or juice made from them.
Heat a deep frying pan well, load immediately both meat and vegetables. First cook the goulash over high heat, stirring with a spatula. Bring the tomato paste to a semi-liquid consistency with water and add to the pan when the meat, onions and carrots are covered with a golden crust.
Reduce gas immediately and simmer for another 40 minutes under the lid. When serving such goulash, you can decorate with sprigs of parsley or basil.
Option for a slow cooker
Happy owners of modern technology can easily prepare fragrant and soft beef goulash with gravy. You need to start by frying vegetables and meat.
Put chopped beef in a bowl greased with butter, add finely chopped carrots and onions. Set the mode "Frying" and cook with the lid open for 10 minutes. In a bowl, dilute 1 tsp with water. tomato paste, add 1 tbsp. l sour cream and 1.5 tsp flour. Pour the mixture into the bowl, mix. If you like the scent of bay leaves, add this ingredient. Salt the dish. Turn on the "Extinguishing" mode, close the lid and set the timer to 1 hour. Then add spices and stew goulash for another 5 minutes.
Cooking in a pressure cooker
If you decide to make beef goulash with gravy in a pressure cooker, do not forget about safety! In no case do not open the lid immediately, it is dangerous. After turning off, you must wait until the pressure cooker stops puffing and making noise; then you need to open the valve and release the remaining steam.
For this dish, even “aged” meat is perfect. A pressure cooker will make it soft and tender.
To make the meat fragrant, before frying it must be sprinkled with pepper and salt and left for a quarter of an hour. Fry a pound of chopped beef in a pan, transfer to a bowl. Fry onions and carrots in the same pan. For this recipe you will need a lot of vegetables - as much as meat. Half a glass of minced meat from tomatoes, fresh or in your own juice, dilute with the same amount of water, add a teaspoon of paprika. Pour into the vegetable mixture, simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Combine the components in a pressure cooker, pour in an incomplete glass of beef broth. Allow to boil with the lid open, then seal and place to simmer over medium heat for 40 minutes.
While the goulash is cooking, prepare the sauce. Mix half a glass of sour cream with a tablespoon of flour, carefully rub. Pour half a glass of cold water, bring to uniformity.
After 40 minutes from the start of cooking, turn off the heat, allow the pressure cooker to cool slightly, relieve pressure, carefully open the lid. Add the sour cream sauce to the bowl, mix, cook with the lid open for 5 minutes, stirring. Goulash will begin to thicken. If necessary, add spices to taste.
Aromatic dish from the oven
This option will certainly be appreciated by lovers of unusual tastes. Would you like to add variety to your usual recipe? Replace your usual beer sauce and cook beef goulash with gravy in the oven!
The beginning of the recipe does not differ from other options: it is necessary to brown beef, carrots and onions in a pan.
And then we will cook in a different way. Place the fried ingredients in a baking dish with a high side, pour in dark beer. It will take 500 ml of a foamy drink. Add bay leaf, salt a little, spread on the surface of peppercorns.
Place the deco in the preheated oven. Periodically, it is necessary to check how the process is going, adding water. 10 minutes before the end of cooking, dilute half a glass of sour cream with a small amount of water, pour a small handful of flour (the more it is, the thicker the sauce will be). Stir and pour the deco with goulash, evenly distributing the sour cream layer over the entire surface. Return the dish to the oven and brown for a bit.
Beef goulash "as in kindergarten"
This taste is probably familiar to everyone. What is the secret of this dish? Preparing it is very simple.
Cut 500 g of meat into cubes and fry in a casserole over high heat. Add diced onions (250 g), mix. Tomato paste will need only 1 tbsp. l., it must be added to the meat and mix. At the same stage, spices are also loaded.
Future goulash must be filled with water so that all components are completely covered. We cover the pots with a lid, put on a small fire and simmer for an hour.
You can cook such beef goulash with gravy and without flour, the dish will not suffer from this - it will be just as fragrant and tender. Yes, and the sauce is quite thick. But in kindergartens, flour is added to goulash. It will take 1 tbsp. l with a slide. It must be fried in a dry frying pan until it starts to produce a peculiar aroma, very mouth-watering and expressive. Then the flour is diluted with a small amount of water and added to the goulash for about 5 minutes before the end of cooking.
What to give goulash with?
Surely you thought out the menu even before you cook beef goulash with gravy. Most housewives choose such an addition as mashed potatoes to this dish. This option is really good.
But he is not the only one. Boiled rice, spaghetti, fresh vegetables go well with beef goulash.