German Goulash with Red Bell Pepper ('Gulasch mit Paprika')

Step 1

Cook the meat until tender:

Step 2

Season the cubed stew meat with salt and pepper to taste. Add the flour to the meat and mix well.

Step 3

Heat the lard in a large pot or pressure cooker over high heat. Sear the stew meat for 3-4 minutes on each side then take it out of the pot and set it aside.

Step 4

Lower the heat to medium-low and add more lard to the pot if needed. Sweat the onions and garlic over moderate heat for 4-5 minutes or until they turn translucent (if the onions don't leak enough water to deglaze the pan you can add a splash of water to release the fond). Add the tomato paste, caraway seeds, and paprika powder. Sweat the mixture for one more minute.

Step 5

Deglaze the pan with red wine, then add the stew meat, beef broth, bay leaf, and rosemary sprig. Bring the stew to a light simmer and let it simmer, covered, for about 1.5 to 2 hours until the meat is tender. In case too much water evaporates, you can simply add some more broth or water to the pot. If using a pressure cooker, let the goulash cook for 20 minutes on the high-pressure setting and then let the pressure release naturally. Remove the rosemary sprig and bay leaf from the finished goulash and season to taste with salt.

Step 6

Cook the bell peppers and serve the goulash:

Step 7

While the goulash is simmering, sweat the bell peppers in the butter over moderate heat for 3-4 minutes. Season them with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and add salt to taste.

Step 8

Add the bell peppers to the goulash and mix well. Garnish the finished stew with a handful of chervil or parsley leaves and serve with any side dish of your choice. On the recipe picture, the goulash is served with yeast dumplings but spaetzle or noodles would also be traditional.