GOULASH SOUP
Serves 6–8
(for a 4.5−5 litre slow cooker)
This hearty soup is great for a winter’s day, ideal to set and forget when you leave home for recreational activities or work. When you come home you can add the dumplings if liked, but this is by no means necessary. It is really a meal unto itself and is delicious served with fresh crusty bread or garlic bread.
600g beef cheeks or chuck or blade steak
2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes (or 800g fresh or bottled tomatoes)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 onions, diced
90g mushrooms, diced
1 large capsicum, deseeded and diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced (optional)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons tomato sauce (ketchup)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2½ cups chicken, beef or vegetable stock (or 2½ cups water with 1½ teaspoons stock power)
2 sprigs fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 teaspoons butter, softened
1 cup self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon snipped chives
1 tablespoon chopped parsley milk or water to mix
Remove all visible fat from the meat and cut into small dice. Place in the slow cooker with the rest of the soup ingredients and stir to combine. Place the lid on the cooker and cook for 5 hours on High or 10 hours on Low. Add salt and pepper to taste.
To make the dumplings, rub the butter into the flour and salt with your fingertips (or do this in the food processor). Mix in the herbs and then add enough milk or water to make a soft dough. Shape teaspoonfuls of the dough into small balls.
Drop the dumplings into the simmering soup. Grease a piece of baking paper slightly larger than the cooker and place, greased side down, over the top of the cooker. Replace the lid and cook for 20 minutes more on High until the dumplings are puffed and light.