Gettin' Our GOULASH to Go GiddyUp!

     It was not a dark and stormy night. It was Monday, just Monday, and we at the NC didn't feel like doing a damn thing. We just kind of sat there and talked about nothing. I was OK with that. Really.

          Trobee, on the other hand, eventually felt a ridiculous need to actually accomplish something. "So what should we do?"

          Shrug from me. "Whatever," I mumbled. "I don't think there's any food here anyway. Not even potatoes. See for yourself."

         A challenge. She rifled through the fridge, she poked through the cupboards. She came up with noodles, a cheap-o can of tomato sauce, frozen hamburger, half an onion, some shredded cheese...

          And so.... goulash it was. It had long been a 'someday' project. Guess today was the day.

           Now then. I'm not talking about the traditional Hungarian goulash. (See the Chili & Vanilia blog for a piece of that action -- written by real live Hungarian Zsofi.) I speak of the humble Midwest U.S. version, also generically referred to as 'hotdish'. Pasta hastily mixed up with the simplest of ingredients mentioned above. It is, to me, the unglamorous family dinner dish of Normalness. Something for busy moms to throw together to 'do the job'.

         American-style goulash. It's so very Monday.

         "Actually that just might work out well," I said. I was almost getting a little bit enthusiastic. We were going to jazz up the humdrum goulash, just like the NC catchphrase says (see banner at top of page). It would be just like all those 'old skool' teen movies when a nice dork was transformed to ultimate coolness -- with the help of someone 'in the know'.         

          Trobee took her seat and pulled out the notebook. "So how are we gonna do this?"

         Spicing-ideas bubbled forth. It was, after all, a familiar (though somewhat bland) dish. We knew the taste of it so well; spicing would be easily imagined. This would be fun...and eventually, I confidently believed, fantastically tasty.

RECIPE B-R-E-A-K-D-O-W-N

"Do you think we should add fennel seeds?"

Fennel seeds seemed an obvious addition at first. Pasta with tomato and onion? C'mon.

But then, no. No. Fennel seeds our goulash would not have. The licorice-like spice would stamp it with an Italian-ish identity. Not that Indo-Italian was a bad thing by any means -- it had worked so well in our Masala-Mama Mostaccioli. But it was not for this.

Ajwain. Cumin, of course. Northern Indian spices seemed in order. A lashing of clove. Yes.

"Curry leaves?"

With pasta? Hm...

*     *     *

Celery. Without celery, it would not be goulash. I realized only then that celery is not a common ingredient I see in Indian recipes. Cripes, my mom put it in everything. Spicing it would be interesting.     

"Any whole spices in this?" Trobee asked as she jotted things down

"Hell no. We don't want seeds or leaves floating around here. We're going to powder-ize all the spices."

"Yeah, I agree with that." 

*     *     *   

"This is fantastic," I declared after a few giant bites. "It's great. Warm and bold and wintry." Just how I wanted it.

Quorn could easily substitute for hamburger. (My future version proved this.)And chileheads could easily crank up the heat as they chose (Trobee.) And cheeseheads? Why, they could have a heyday.

Trobee happily agreed. "Damn good!" I wasn't sure if she was talking about the food or her cooking. But I nodded anyway.

The end.

photos by Trina

Shout out to Majamom (Marybeth) for letting us use her cool vintage pic at the top of the post.

---

GiddyUp Goulash

2 cups uncooked egg noodles or elbow macaroni
1 lb. hamburger or Quorn pieces
1 small white or yellow onion, chopped
2 tsp garlic paste or minced garlic
1/2 stalk of celery, chopped
1 cup of diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz.) can of tomato sauce
1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate, dissolved in 1 Tb water
2 tsp sugar or honey
2 tsp paprika
1/2 cup shredded cheese
2 green onions, the green parts only (for a garnish)

Masala:

2 dried red chilies (optional)
1 Tb cumin seeds
1 Tb coriander seeds
1/4 tsp peppercorns
1-inch cinnamon stick
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp ajwain seeds
4 whole cloves
10 curry leaves

1) Cook the pasta until it is almost done. Soft but just a bit firm. Drain. Set aside.
2) Brown the hamburger, if that is what you are using. Drain. Set aside.
3) In a medium skillet, dry roast the masala until the cumin seeds have darkened a few shades. Whizz it to a powder in your coffee grinder. Set aside.
4) Back to the skillet. Heat the oil. Saute the white onions until they are soft and clear. Add the garlic paste and masala, followed by the paprika. When the garlic is light brown, add the celery. Continue to cook until the celery is soft.
5) Now add the diced tomatoes, the tomato sauce, the tamarind water, and sugar or honey.
6) In a big pot, combine all of the ingredients (including the Quorn, if using) and cook until the cheese is melted. Done.