Hungarian Goulash

First time i tried this meal was in Prague. It was sold at an underground cellar restaurant, slightly spooky -in Prague, what's not?- but nice and warm. This time i made a different goulash. It was not Czechen, it was Hungarian. I personally like the Czech's goulash better because it's thicker, but this one is also good.

Here it goes.

Yield 4-6 serving bowls

500 gram beef shank, cut into cubes
2 red capsicum (or paprika), chopped
1 onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 sticks of carrot, thick sliced
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 cups water
4 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp chili flakes, if you like it spicy
Salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

In a saucepan on medium heat, saute onion until caramelized then toss in garlic. Stir until fragrant. Stir together chopped capsicum, pour flour, stir again, and simmer until it softened. Turn heat into low.
While waiting capsicum to soften, sprinkle salt and pepper on beef, rub evenly. Then put beef in the pan, stir until coated by onion and capsicum. Wait until the meat turn a little brown then add water. Simmer on low heat with closed lid for 1 hour. Keep an eye on the pan, if the water runs dry, add more.

After an hour, add carrots and tomatoes into beef mixture. Stir.
Sprinkle chili flakes, salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. This goulash should have a stronger 'sweet' taste rather than 'savory'. Simmer for another 40minutes until vegetables soften.

Serve with lean bread or boiled potatoes. Or in more Hungarian way: with noodle.
Smakelijk!

PS: you won't find carrots like shown in my photo because i've cut the cooking time halfway. Yours should be reallysoft, almost pureed. My daughter interrupted me while i was cooking so... yeah, i had a halfcooked carrots here :))))

Pulla, a traditional Finnish braided bread

I always think that Scandinavian countries are awesome, since i first heard Norwegian singer -now one of my all time favorite- Lene Marlin released her first single. Before IKEA got popular in Indonesia, i had a special time at the corner of my college library, reading used magazines covering IKEA's and other warm Scandinavian product and design. 

When recently i moved to Singapore, i had a little time to spend at IKEA store and remembered how i love the smell of cardamom in Skorporkardamomma bread. So i made this bread, though it wasn't Norwegian nor Swedish, but rather Finnish bread. Actually it was not my first Scandinavian bread/cake, because accidentally i had made a cardammom cake when i was a kid. Back then i and my sisters wanted to make a cake out of our mommy's cookbook without knowing that it was a Norwegian cake. It was Julekake. 

This Pulla was made in a really quick way because my daughter kept screaming"i wanna seeeee!" all the way. Here it goes.

Yields 1 pulla bread app.20cm long.

1 teaspoon dry yeast, activated in 1/4 cup lukewarm water and a pinch of sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup sugar

A pinch of salt

2-3 cups of all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1/2 teaspoon ground green cardammom

1 egg for eggwash

3teaspoons of sugar for sprinkle coating

In a bowl or pan on low heat, simmer milk and melt butter. Pour sugar inside the mixture and stir. Take away from heat after all the butter is melt and sugar starts to dilute.

Transfer to a mixing bowl, stir evenly and add salt.

Let it cool a little.

When this milk gets lukewarm temperature, pour in the activated yeast and mix thoroughly.

Add flour, half cup at a time, and cinnamon & ground cardammom. Then knead until it forms a firm dough.

Leave it in the bowl, cover with a damp cloth, let it sit at warm and draft free place to rise to double size, approximately 45 minute to 1 hour.

After an hour, punch the dough to make sure that air bubbles are out from it. Knead for 3-5 minute.

Divide the dough into three equal parts and roll to a long silindrical shape like a big rope. Braid the three parts together.

Put on  baking tray, cover with clean cloth and let it rise againfor about 20 minutes.

After its second rise you can brush it with eggwash and sprinkle the top with pearl sugar. Bake 25-30 minutes at 175°C.

Smakelijk!