Hungarian Veal Stew (Borjupörkölt)

Submitted by littleturtle

"A thick, rich and spicy, peasant stew, closely related to goulash soup. The perfect thing for a cold winter's day. This recipe is a mix between one that appeared in the newspaper column "Mother Magyar" by Meryl Constance, my great-great-grandmother's family recipe, and one in "The Hungarian Cookbook" by Susan Derecskey."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 40mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon oil or 1 tablespoon lard
• 1⁄4 cup onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1⁄4 cup tomato juice
• 2 cups beef stock (or replace 1/2 cup of beef stock with red wine)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 lb veal or 1 lb beef, cut into bite-sized cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• 3⁄4 lb potato, diced into 1/2 " pieces (approx. 2 cups)

directions

1. Heat the oil in large saucepan and fry the onion and garlic gently until onion is golden;.
2. add tomato juice and 1 cup stock.
3. Sprinkle on the paprika and when this is bubbling add the meat and stir to coat it.
4. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and braise slowly for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until very tender.
5. When everything else is cooked through, add potatoes, salt, pepper, remaining stock, and taste for seasonings; cook 25-30 minutes more.
6. Serve with nokedli or csipetke.

Reviews

[barrdbarrbarr]

YUM! This was sooo tasty :) I used a pound of veal leg from our local halal butcher. He promised me it was "very soft meat" and it sure came out great. I had my doubts about using potato with tomato and cayenne, but it was really quite good. I did use 1/2 cup of red wine, and I used strained tomatoes instead of juice. Some sour cream mixed in at the end would probably have brought this dish to a whole new level - I will try it next time... and there will definitely be a next time! I served this on top of a bed of shredded sauteed cabbage which was a nice counterpoint to the heat of the stew. Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe :)

 

[SciFi Deborah]

I changed this recipe a little but it turned out fantastic and we seem to eat it every other week right now. I replaced the tomato juice with 2 Tbs tomato paste, used 8 oz sirloin in place of the pound of veal, used 4 potatoes and 2 carrots. The recipe makes 2 servings and we come away totally satisfied and well within our calorie goals.