Minced meat stew
In order to mark the end of summer, the villagers from Crasna in the west of Romania, cook a Hungarian dish called bograci or goulash. The recipe was altered to fit the occasion of the “Autumn Feast” event. It is said that when the dish is cooked in open air, in a cast iron kettle, it has an exquisite taste.
Ștefan Baciu, 14.09.2014, 13:00
This stew is not difficult to make, but it takes around 3 hours. The most important ingredient is the onion, which must be plentiful. For instance, for 2 kg of meat, no less than 2 kg of peeled and chopped onions must be added. You also need some tomatoes, tomato sauce, 2 red chilli peppers and 2 green peppers, paprika, several garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, oil, pepper and salt.
Sauté the finely chopped onions in oil, then add the meat cut into dices. A characteristic of this food is the mixture of meats. You can use beef mixed with pork, or beef mixed with pork and mutton. Then add the chopped vegetables. You can skip the red chilli peppers if you don’t want your dish to be too spicy. It is important for the paprika to be sprinkled in the kettle at this moment of cooking, to give colour and taste, because it only dissolves in oil. Then add a bit of water and tomato sauce to cover the meat and vegetables mixture. Put in the bay leaves and some pepper and let it simmer, stirring occasionally. When the goulash is almost cooked add salt to taste, as well as chopped fresh parsley leaves. The dish is served hot, with potatoes, polenta or pasta.
