Vegetarian Era > Delicacies > Vegetarian Goulash Soup


Ingredients (Serves 4)
1 medium sized onion (about 50g, 1.7oz, pic 1), finely chopped 2 carrots (pic 1), cut into thin slices 2 parsley roots (pic 1), cut into thin slices 30-50g (1~1.7oz) celery root (celeriac), diced (pic 2) medium sized potatoes, cut into chunks (pic 3) 4-5 parsley leaves, finely chopped 6 tablespoons Oil Water

Seasonings
3 teaspoons Hungarian paprika 2 teaspoons ground caraway seed 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon Vegeta

Preparing pinched noodles
25g all purpose flour (2 tablespoons) A pinch of turmeric for color (optional) A large pinch of salt Knead these ingredients with one tablespoon of water into a stiff dough, then tear into small pieces. Plunge the pieces of dough into the flour, pinch off some small pieces and drop onto a plate. Continue this process until all the dough is used. During this procedure the plate may be shaken gently to prevent the noodles from sticking together. (pic 4, 5, 6)



Preparing the soup
Pour 6 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan. Saute onion about 10-15 minutes on medium-low heat until soft, but not brown. Then add Hungarian paprika (sweet, not hot!), ground caraway seed and ground black pepper. Stir(pic 7), then add the carrots, parsley root and celery root. Stir and cook on low heat for 10 min (pic 8), then mix in the potato cubes and cook for another 5 minutes.


Add 1 liter of water, the pinched noodles, salt and spice mix (Optional. In Hungarian it is called “Vegeta” a general purpose soup spice mix containing MSG ). Quickly bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes on medium heat until the vegetables soften. (pic 9) Add another half liter of water, and boil once more (pic 10), and remove from heat. Sprinkle with parsley leaves and mix well. Serve with bread. (pic 11)


Variations and comments
This is the exact recipe for the goulash soup that Master tasted in Hungary, February 2005. The spices such as amount of salt and caraway can be altered according to your preference. It is also excellent when hot red paprika (or some chili) is added during or after preparation of the soup, according to taste. For an authentic flavor it is important to use real (imported) Hungarian paprika. If preferred, chunks/cubes of textured vegetable protein (not tofu), or gluten may be added, making the soup more filling. Soak a handful of dry textured soy protein in pure water, or water containing “Vegeta”. When the protein soaks up the water to capacity and becomes soft, press the water out by hand. Add the soy cubes/chunks to the soup mix immeditely after adding the paprika. The final amount of water will also need to be increased in this case, so add 0.3-0.4 liter more water. The pinched noodles also may be left out. In this case more potatoes may be added as a replacement. Parsley roots may not be available in your area, so parsnips may be used as a substitute; however, unlike parsley roots, parsnips have a sweet taste. Stalks of parsley chopped into small pieces can also be used, if parsley root is not available. When you get a feeling for the taste of good quality goulash, you may vary the vegetables in it as well. Vegeta: Ingredients: Salt, dehydrated vegetables, (carrots, parsnips, onions, celery, parseley leaves) monosodium glutamate, sugar, cornstarch, spices, disodium inosinate, riboflavin (color). You may use just a pinch of MSG instead or try to find a similar seasoning mix, but Vegeta is available in the US. Check the following URLs for details: http://malincho.com/vegeta.asp http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002KZYMC/sr=35-1/qid=1121609487/ref=sr_35_1/104-9894090－6598311?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=3604111&s=gourmet-food&v=glance