Goulash Soup

Recipe for a fiery goulash soup with chili

For decades, this hearty and fiery goulash soup has been our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, and is loved by the whole family. You can prepare the soup the day before and heat it up without any problems.

The right choice of meat for this goulash soup is very important: Make sure to use well-matured rump steak (with a short minimum shelf-life), you should not use meat from, for example, the calf or similar for your goulash soup. This soup is also spicy and delicious without chillies: if your guests include both chili lovers and people who prefer milder food, you can omit the chillies when cooking and your guests can season with chili powder later, if they wish.

Ingredients for 12 people:

2.5 kg of well-matured Argentinian rump steak
1 kg onions
4 garlic cloves
3 large carrots
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 - 2 fresh red chillies (or 1-2 tsp chili powder), depending on the desired level of spiciness, or season later at the table
2 tins of San Marzano tomatoes à 400 g
7 Bay leaves
10 whole cloves
3 heaped tsp caraway
75 g sweet paprika
4 heaped tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp coriander seeds crushed or finely ground in a mortar
2,5 l water
Juice of one lemon
1,5 bottles of dry, strong red wine (0,75 l + 0,375 l)
0,4 l cream
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:

Wash, clean and dice the paprika, carrots and chillies. Peel and dice or chop the onions and garlic. Cut the meat into 0.5 cm large pieces.

Quickly fry the meat in portions and put it to the side. Do not salt it. Then quickly fry the onions and garlic.

Put the fried onions and garlic in a large pot, add the tinned tomatoes (crush them with your hands, do not puree them, as pureed tomatoes don`t boil as well) and then let everything simmer for approx. 15 minutes with the lid on.
Then add the meat, vegetables, bay leaves, cloves, caraway, paprika powder, chili, sugar, coriander seeds, one bottle (0,75 l) of red wine and 2,5 l water, and let it simmer on a low heat for approx. 2 hours.

Next add the cream, the other 1/2 a bottle of red wine, and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.
A fresh baguette goes very well with the soup. The soup is also very suitable for re-heating.

This recipe makes approx. 7-8 litres of soup, any leftovers can easily be frozen.