Are you looking for a delicious one-pot dish? Stop right here. You’ll love this beef-peas goulash packed with tender meat, delicious tomato stew and seasoned with cayenne, paprika and garam masala. This goulash wouldn’t be the same without a big bunch of fresh dill. Make it today and enjoy it tomorrow, when it tastes the best.
I love this dish. It was one of my favourite dishes back at home. My mother always made it the evening one day before. Usually, the best moment to enjoy it was in cold autumn and winter days. Therefore, you really don’t need a fridge to store it overnight. She simply placed it on the balcony. That’s a good idea, right? Wink.
But why she made it in the evening? The reason is simple. This goulash, like also every other one-pot dish, tastes better the next day. The flavours come together in a delicious fusion and so become even tastier. Also, this segedin goulash, a Slovenian soup jecmenka, holiday cabbage rolls, another Slovenian recipe sour turnips soup Jota or slow-cooked date-beef tajine taste wonderful the next day.
As I already mentioned, beef-peas goulash is a one-pot dish. In other words, you need only one pot to make this deliciousness. That’s just wonderful. You add the ingredients one by one to the pot and after long slow cooking, you created a pot full of flavour.
Besides spices, such as cayenne pepper, sweet paprika and Garam masala (a wonderful mix of spices, which I highly recommend) I also use fresh dill. Yes, the one and only, which can not or should not be skipped. In fact, when I told my mom, that I am making beef-peas goulash, she asked: “Do you have dill?” Ha ha.
Moreover, dill belongs to the fennel family, yet with a milder flavour compared to fennel. I used the “leaves” (but you can use the seeds, too), which are very delicate and fragrant. In addition, a quick tip from me: do not wash your dill until you are ready to use it. Why? With washing the delicate sprigs, you create bruises that can make it go bad quicker.
What else to say? If you still think that you need something more, I find the beef-peas goulash pairs wonderfully with polenta or potatoes. But I also love to eat it with a nice slice of homemade bread. Do you know what I mean? That dipping of the bread crust into the hot goulash and the charming act of using the last piece of bread to mop the last drops of goulash. It is so good, you can not possibly leave any behind. Yes! I love it!
Ingredients for 4-5 portions of beef-peas goulash:
- 500 g beef (cubes)
- 1 yellow onion (sliced)
- a splash of red wine
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- sliced chili (optional)
- 400 ml tomato (peeled, canned)
- 300 ml of warm water
- salt and pepper
- 250 g frozen green peas
- a bunch of dill sprigs (roughly chopped)
To begin, slice the onions and drizzle some olive oil in a larger pot. Once it gets hot, add the onions and the beef. After the beef is browned on all sides, stir in the chili (if you like it), cayenne pepper, sweet paprika and Garam Masala, until they release the flavours. At this point, deglaze with a splash of red wine and scrape all the goodies stucked at the bottom of the pot.
Furthermore, pour in the pelati tomatoes and water, smash the tomatoes, give it a stir, cover and let it simmer on a medium-low for about 1 hour or until the beef gets tender (in other words, easily breaks apart).
At the last 15 minutes of cooking, stir in the frozen green peas and the fresh dill, season with salt and pepper, cover and let it simmer. When the time is over, remove the pot from the stove and let it cool down completely and then put in the fridge overnight (if eating on the same day, let it sit for at least 30 minutes before serving).
Finally, serve the warm beef-peas goulash with either a slice of bread, boiled or mashed potatoes or simply with some lovely polenta. I love to add a spoon of plain yogurt on top, too. Yummy. This is a perfect dish for a cold and windy day.
Enjoy!
