"The mind knows not what the tongue wants". Your tongue wants Hungarian goulash!

When a recipe asks for a pinch of paprika - take this with a pinch of salt. Why? Because it's a lie.

I’m Hungarian so I miss Hungarian Goulash.

Not the meat but the flavours, the spices, the warming paprika infused goodness. Plus I have a cold (which my mother blames on being vegan - naturally), and I’m craving comfort food.

So I had to do something about it.

Ladies and gents, I give you vegan Hungarian goulash with Asian tempeh and smoked tofu, Spanish aubergines, British new potatoes, Bavarian sauerkraut and a dollop of Mexican chipotle sauce for heat. I’ve made an international goulash.

Now, normally a Hungarian goulash is slow-cooked all day in a witches cauldron. I kid you not. I have one of these and use it regularly to make all sorts of concoctions when we entertain friends at our house. A heavy duty cast iron casserole pot is the second best option.

This dish took about an hour to cook and it tastes phenomenal. I'm biased, but it's true!

Side note: you do not just simply sprinkle a bit of paprika into a Hungarian goulash. You pour and shake that thing until the spirits of your Hungarian ancestors appear and whisper “that’s enough my dear child” into your ears. At this point you’ve added enough paprika.

The same goes for garlic. You add a whole bulb, not just a clove. Whenever I see this in a recipe I presume it’s a typo - you should do the same and your meals will turn out much tastier. Trust me.

Without further ado, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Naturli or any other vegan butter or vegetable oil (2 tbs for frying, 2 tbs for marinating the tempeh)

Two onions (diced)

Garlic (crushed, at least half a head, more if you’d prefer)

Handful of flat leaf parsley

Dried marjoram

Ground cumin

Smoked paprika

Ground pepper

Vegetable stock

Dark soy sauce

Tomato purée (3tbs)

New potatoes cut in half or quartered (if they’re bigger)

Any other leftover vegetables (I’ve had an aubergine in my fridge. You could add diced peppers, mushrooms, squash, celery etc)

A block of tempeh (fermented tofu)

A block of firm smoked tofu

Diced chilli if you want to make it hot

Side options: anything pickled (they go really well with smoky spicy flavours), sauerkraut, a dollop of plain vegan yoghurt instead of sour cream, crusty bread.

How I cooked it:

Cut the tempeh and smoked tofu into even cubes and toss them into some vegetable oil or melted vegan butter, mixed with 2-3 tbs of dark soy sauce and 1 tbs of smoked paprika. Make sure the soya cubes are covered in this concoction as much as possible and leave it all to marinade while you clean and chop up all the veg.

Prepare the veg stock with your favourite stock cube (1 cube)

Fry the diced onions on low-medium heat (aim for soft and caramelised rather than burnt)

Add the crushed garlic and fry for a couple of minutes.

Turn the heat up and add the marinated tofu. Fry for 2-3 minutes while stirring gently so you don’t break up the tofu too much.

Add all the other veg, a copious amount of smoked paprika (at least 4 level tbsp) and mix to get everything covered in it.

Keep stirring so you don’t burn the paprika then add the stock, tomato purée, all the spices and most of the parsley (reserve some for garnishing).

Turn down the heat to low and let it bubble away for an hour while stirring regularly. Keep tasting and add salt/pepper if needed..

Garnish with the remaining parsley. Serve with gherkins or sauerkraut and warm crusty bread. You could also add a dollop of plain vegan yoghurt or vegan creme fraiche.

Enjoy! ??

Ps. Did you know “paprika” is a Hungarian word meaning pepper?