Quick Szegedin Sour Cabbage Goulash with Potato Pancakes

Prepare the ingredients. This is what's coming to your plate – prepare the ingredients in advance so the work goes smoothly 🍲🔥

Prepare the onion base. Peel the onion and chop it into small dice. Optionally prepare the bacon – chop it finely if you want to use it in the base.

Sauté the onion. Heat a tablespoon of lard in a pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, caraway and optionally the bacon and sauté until golden, about 7 minutes. Lightly salt the base and, if you have a bay leaf, add it now.

Cut the meat. Meanwhile cut the meat into cubes about 2–3 cm in size, lightly salt it and set aside.

Brown the meat with the base. Once the onion base is golden, add the meat, increase the heat and briefly brown the meat on all sides to seal it. Sprinkle in the ground paprika and quickly stir to release its aroma, but do not burn it.

Add liquid and cook the meat. Pour in enough water to cover the meat, reduce the heat to medium and cook until the meat is tender. Time varies depending on the type and size of the meat, so check it roughly every 15 minutes.

Season with garlic. Towards the end of cooking, grate the garlic into the goulash and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the cabbage and adjust the consistency. Remove the sauerkraut from its packaging, possibly drain it lightly, and add it to the goulash. If the consistency is ideal, you can proceed. If the goulash is too thin, simmer it a little longer; if it's too thick, add a bit of water and re-check the seasoning.

Fry the potato pancakes. Heat a tablespoon of lard in a pan and fry the potato pancakes over medium heat until golden, approximately 1–2 minutes per side.

Serve. To the finished goulash add one large tablespoon of sour cream per person, which will slightly thicken the sauce. Immediately serve the goulash with the potato pancakes 🍽️✨