Gulasz

I'm trying to clean out my freezer and fridge before I move in two weeks, so I let 1.3lbs of beef cubes out to thaw out last night. With that much beef, you can easily make two dishes and then freeze it, so that's what I did.

One dish I made was a chunky beef chili, but I want to focus on the other dish I made, which is a Polish favorite: Gulasz

This is such an easy meal to make if you cheat like I do and buy the sauce mix from a local Polish specialty store. Actually I think you can even get it in Food Basics if you're lucky. The only problem is it is usually in Polish and if you don't know how to read it, you might be out of luck if you're not good at guessing.

So what you'll need:

1lb stewing beef cubes

1 carrot

1 tsp minced garlic

1 yellow onion

1 packet Knorr gulasz mix

2 cups water (500ml)

2 tbsp butter

2 stalks celery

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 potatoes

sour cream

maggi seasoning

Like I said, this is an uber simple recipe:

I cut the cubed stewing beef into smaller bite-size pieces because I find it can get a little chewing in this recipe. I would recommend cutting a big cube into about three smaller pieces. At the same time, take the carrot, shred it, and set it aside. Also dice up the yellow onion and two stalks of celery and set aside. Save about a half cut of the diced celery for later use.

In a frying pan, place the meat inside with a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil. Fry the meat while stirring intermediately so as not to burn the meat. The small meat pieces will cook quicker than they would if left their normal size so pay close attention.

Drain the fat and oil and add chopped veggies. Stir continuously for a few minutes to the veggies fry a bit before adding water.

Add 2 cups of water. While stirring with a fork or whisk, slowly add gulasz sauce mix a little at a time. Reduce heat to low, put a lid on the pan, and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally.

About fifteen minutes before the gulasz is ready, I make homemade garlic mashed potatoes. You can make this to your own personal tastes.

When everything is ready to serve, place the mashed potatoes in a bowl and then pile the gulasz on top. Then add a dolop or two of sour cream and add the rest of the diced celery to the top of the sour cream. As a finishing touch, sprinkle some drops of Maggi seasoning on top for a very delicious flavor!