Vegetable goulash with peppers and aubergine: one pot, vegetables added in order
An August pot filled with whatever the market has: peppers, aubergine, courgette, carrot and potatoes in a thick sauce of passata and a great deal of sweet paprika. The secret is the order — each vegetable goes in when it needs to, so nothing ends up either raw or cooked to mush. No meat, and with a slice of bread as filling as a proper goulash.
Your own work in that: 35 min.
- Chopping 15 min
- Frying 15 min
- Simmering 30 min
- Seasoning 5 min
Step by step
0 / 6 done
Cut each vegetable differently
Potatoes and carrots into 1.5 cm dice (they take longest), peppers and aubergine into 2.5 cm chunks, courgette into 2 cm half-moons (it collapses first). Slice the onions into feathers and chop the garlic.
Ingredients: 3 pcs red and yellow peppers · 1 pcs aubergine · 1 pcs courgette · 2 pcs onions · 2 pcs carrots · 400 g potatoes · 4 cloves garlic
TipThis isn't presentation, it's timing: the bigger the piece, the longer it takes to cook. Cutting the hard vegetables smaller and the soft ones larger brings them all to doneness at the same moment.
Hard ones smaller, soft ones larger
Brown the aubergine on its own
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large pot and fry the aubergine over high heat 8 minutes, until browned at the edges. Lift out onto a plate. Fried with everything else it would drink all the oil and stay spongy; fried alone it loses water and turns creamy inside.
On its own, high heat, browned edges
Fry the onion, carrot and peppers
Add a tablespoon of oil to the same pot, put in the onion and carrot and fry 5 minutes, add the peppers and fry another 3 minutes. Finish with the garlic and cumin, stirring 30 seconds until fragrant.
Onion and carrot, then peppers, garlic last
Add the paprika off the heat
Take the pot off the heat, add the sweet paprika and tomato paste and stir hard for half a minute, until everything turns brick red. Only then return it to the burner and pour in the passata and stock.
Ingredients: 4 tbsp oil · 2 tbsp sweet paprika · 2 tbsp tomato paste · 400 ml tomato passata · 400 ml vegetable stock · 1 tsp ground cumin · 1 tbsp dried marjoram · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp sugar · 2 tsp salt · 1 tsp black pepper
TipSweet paprika scorches within seconds in hot fat and turns bitter. Stirred into a hot pot that is off the heat, it gives up its colour and aroma before the temperature can damage it.
Pot off the heat, paprika, half a minute of stirring
Simmer with the lid ajar
Add the potatoes, bay leaves, sugar and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to the boil and simmer over low heat with the lid ajar for 20 minutes. Then add the courgette and the fried aubergine and simmer another 10 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the sauce thick.
TipA tilted lid is the compromise: closed, it traps all the steam and the sauce stays thin; off entirely, the top dries out before the potatoes soften.
Potatoes first, courgette and aubergine for the last ten minutes
Season and serve
Remove the bay leaves. Crush the marjoram between your palms over the pot, season with salt and pepper, taste and add a pinch of sugar if the passata was sharp. Serve with a spoon of sour cream, parsley and bread. The second day it is thicker and better.
Ingredients: 150 g sour cream, 18 % · ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley · 6 pcs bread
Marjoram from the palms, sour cream, parsley
Before you start
With beans
A can of white beans, drained and rinsed, added for the last 10 minutes: the goulash becomes more filling and richer in protein, and the pot stretches to eight portions.
Spicy
A teaspoon of chilli flakes or hot paprika added together with the sweet paprika. A spoon of sour cream on the plate tames the heat for those who prefer it milder.
It came out watery
Too much stock, or the lid was fully closed. Take the lid off and cook 10 minutes more over medium heat; the sauce reduces and thickens without any flour.
Nutrition
per 100 gStep photos are computer-generated from the recipe.
