Goulash soup

If it’s Hungary, it has to be Hungarian goulash soup. I was going to write a few words about how I liked it in the land of our Hungarian “brothers”, so I thought a goulash soup recipe would fit the bill nicely.

Mind you, this isn’t quite the classic soup. At least, it’s not exactly how they make it in Hungary. We actually ate goulash soup several times over there, and it wasn’t the same in every restaurant. In Budapest it was quite different, much thicker than the one served at Lake Balaton. Why is mine different? Because I’m a bit of a scatterbrain. I went vegetable shopping today specifically for the soup and forgot the carrots and the rest of the soup vegetables (celeriac and parsley root). So that’s why this isn’t a textbook example.

I will say, hand on heart, that the flavour comes very close to the Hungarian original. I think I can safely call this the “de luxe” version. There are more vegetables, and it’s more filling. Above all it’s devilishly, and I do mean devilishly, hot. If you don’t like that much heat, use far fewer chillies than I did.

That heat is terribly important in goulash soup, though. Why? Because, at least when you’re eating it in Hungary, it gives you a very good reason to wash the heat down with dry white wine. Local wine, of course.

Of all alcoholic drinks, wine is my favourite. Good Hungarian wine is hard to come by in Poland (though maybe I haven’t looked particularly hard, what with decent Portuguese and even French wines so widely available). Besides, Hungarian wines had never really meant much to me. Yet at Lake Balaton you can get some very decent dry white table wines. At outrageously decent prices too, to put it mildly.

In a decent, in fact a very decent, restaurant in Balatonfüred, a litre carafe of wine costs about 30 złoty. In a local tavern the same carafe costs 10 złoty. In a shop a litre of that wine will set you back 3 złoty.

Paradise, eh? All right, back to the point 🙂

Goulash soup is basically a first and second course rolled into one. With the recipe below, 2 bowls (the size you see in the photo) and 3 slices of bread are enough to leave you saying “I’m full” (and looking like the moon in that phase). The Hungarians serve their national dish with bread too, of course, but we came across something else rather interesting. They serve it with hot white pepper cut into rings. I don’t think I’ve ever seen peppers like that back home. Served that way, everyone can decide just how hot their soup should be. A lovely idea. And dropped into the warm soup, the pepper is crisp and juicy and adds another dimension to the flavour. I recommend serving it that way.

But I was going to say a few words about Hungary, too. Today I happened upon an article that I read with interest: “Orbán has pacified Hungary (…) Poverty in the country: the villages look like Burma” (you can find it here). Sadly I’ve never been to Burma, but I have to say that Hungary, at least the parts I drove through, didn’t put me in mind of Burma.

Budapest is enchanting. Utterly. I’d happily have spent several days there, and that’s the truth. Even in the heat, which I found dreadful. A wonderful atmosphere, beautifully kept city squares. The city felt very welcoming (to a tourist, I know, and on a very short visit, just a weekend). If you haven’t been and you’ve got a weekend free, I recommend it a hundred per cent. It’s a quick drive from southern Poland. From other parts of the country you can surely find cheap Wizz Air flights. It’s really worth it.

And do look for somewhere to stay in an “apartment” (or, in good old Polish, a flat) in the centre. The atmosphere in those Budapest apartment buildings is just as unforgettable. The accommodation generally seems very good, and the prices are better, especially if there are several of you. See for yourselves:

After our weekend in Budapest we went to Lake Balaton. I’d been to that Hungarian pond a long, long time ago (10 years ago and probably 20 years ago too). I must say it’s gained a lot since then. Especially in my eyes. In my humble opinion, Balatonfüred outdoes most Polish seaside resorts for charm. It’s also a great example of how you can spend EU money sensibly, on a grand scale and with a real eye for what looks good. The centre, the parks, the promenades, in fact the whole town, are incredibly charming.

It’s Hungary, of course, but it certainly isn’t Burma. And, sadly, it isn’t Poland either (sadly for Poland, that is).

That’s a pretty superficial judgement, of course. Personally I’m no supporter of populism, much less of Orbán’s authoritarian tendencies. But as a tourist, even just thinking of it as a destination, I’ve had very fond feelings about Hungary since that holiday. Something else that really surprised me was the lack of foreign tourists. Well, not quite a lack, but they were in the minority. I’d always thought of Balaton in particular as a place you’d meet lots of Austrians. It’s close to them and they don’t have a big stretch of water at home either. There were plenty of them those few years, or dozen or so years, ago. This time most of the tourists I met were, naturally enough you might think, Hungarian. Few German speakers, and hardly any Poles. Strange.

It surprises me, because it really is a good place to go. So I recommend heading that way, and of course trying a taste of Hungary in the form of the goulash soup you’ll find below. Give it a go!

BTW, this recipe is currently winning in the “most ingredients ever” category 🙂 and I’m afraid it probably breaks my own rule that “I don’t like recipes where the list of ingredients is longer than the list of defeats the Polish national team suffered in its last 4 qualifying campaigns for major tournaments.” (More in the “About” section.)

At a glance: 

Prep time: 75 minutes

Serves: 6 hearty portions

Calories: soups don’t have calories, do they?

Ingredients for goulash soup “de luxe”:

• 250 grams stewing pork (preferably not too lean)
• 1 green chilli (if you don’t like it very hot, use half the chilli or even less)
• 1 red chilli (if you don’t like it very hot, use half the chilli or even less)
• half a jalapeño (leave this out if you don’t want it excessively hot)
• 1 red pepper
• 2 white peppers
• half a courgette
• 2 medium potatoes
• 2 shallots
• 2 medium onions
• 5 fresh basil leaves
• 3 medium red tomatoes
• 1 yellow tomato
• 4 garlic cloves
• a sprig of rosemary
• ground sweet paprika
• ground black pepper
• 1 small beetroot
• 4 bay leaves
• a teaspoon of Vegeta seasoning
• olive oil
• 3 handfuls of small elbow macaroni
• 1.5 litres of water
• salt

The recipe (not entirely Hungarian):

My meat was already cut up, but the chunks were rather big, so I cut them smaller. It’s soup, after all. The pieces shouldn’t be too big. I heated the olive oil in a large pot and started frying the meat. I salted it, gave it a fairly generous grinding of pepper and mixed well.

I chopped the onions and shallots fairly coarsely, added them to the meat and mixed well again.

I peeled the garlic and added it to the meat. I didn’t chop it, just crushed it lightly to release all its flavour. I chopped the courgette very finely and added that to the pot. Another good stir.

Next I chopped all the peppers (starting with the hot ones and leaving some seeds in to make the soup hotter) and added them to the pot. Another stir.

Then I chopped the beetroot very finely and added it too. Finally I skinned and quartered the tomatoes and added them to the rest of the vegetables and meat. I stirred.

At this stage you want the meat and vegetables to keep frying without burning. Start with a higher “flame” and turn it down as the vegetables go in. Remember to stir often and check that nothing is catching.

This first stage takes about 15–20 minutes. I wash and cut each lot of vegetables while the rest are frying. That lets everything cook at its own pace 🙂

Once all the vegetables except the potatoes were nicely fried in the pot with the meat, I added 4 bay leaves, ground sweet paprika (about a tablespoon), a teaspoon of Vegeta-type seasoning, five fresh basil leaves and a sprig of rosemary. I salted to taste, stirred and poured in about 1.5 litres of cold water.

I cooked the soup for about 20 minutes, then added the finely diced potatoes. After another 25–30 minutes of cooking I tipped in 3 handfuls of small elbow macaroni (see the photos).

I cooked it for about another 10–15 minutes and adjusted the salt. Goulash soup, ready. I served it with a dark, fairly moist bread. It’s hot, but if you’d like it hotter still, try spreading Hungarian pepper paste on the bread. Enjoy!

I’ve also got a recipe for Hungarian beef goulash soup (this time with carrot, parsley root and celeriac). Have a watch: