My father taught me this recipe just before I moved out of the house, and he learned it from his mother, my Nagymama (Hungarian for grandmother). It’s one of those stick to your ribs recipes, and can be made with a variety of ingredients. This is the base recipe, and I’ve included some additions at the end, for inspiration. This is the perfect thing to make when you know you’re going to be shoveling snow for hours, or you have to do other outdoor work in cold or damp and chilly environs.
Ingredients:
- 16 oz kielbasa sausage, coined
- 6 to 8 potatoes, cubed
- 4 cups broth
- 3 to 6 tbsp sweet paprika (Szeged brand, please)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 package of bacon, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 to 6 cloves of garlic, minced
In a large soup pot, add the oil and heat on medium. Add onions, and cook until softened. Stir in half of the paprika. Add bacon and sausage, and cook until they are thoroughly browned and bacon is beginning to crisp. If necessary, pour off some oil (though it will lend a lot of flavor if you leave it in).
Add the potatoes to the pot (do NOT stir). Pour in the broth until it is just barely above the top layer. Add more paprika, to make everything quite red. Bring everything to a boil, and then lower the heat to lowest setting and simmer for about an hour. Please note, this may stick a bit to the bottom of your pot. Don’t stress. As long as it doesn’t burn or char, it’s perfect that way.
After an hour, check on your stew. The potatoes should be soft and beginning to fall apart. Stir well, and add some salt and pepper to taste. The end result should be a stew thickened by the potatoes, and filled with tasty sausage.
Notes:
You can make this with any sausage, or technically any protein. Kielbasa was my Nagymama’s way of making this meal, but it can also be made with Andouille, Polish sausage, and even breakfast sausage or hot dogs if you’re in a pinch. When stirring, use a wooden spoon or spatula. Bits of potato will stick to the bottom a bit, but they can be scraped up gently and will make the stew taste even better! Also, if you like a bit of spice, you can also use some or all HOT paprika, as opposed to sweet. Beware… good quality Hungarian paprika is very flavorful, and the hot stuff is quite hot. I recommend “Szeged” brand, which is available in Market Basket, Shaw’s, and most other big box grocery stores.
I’ve made this with pretty much every kind of cheap meat out there. You can use any protein at all, but if you’re using a raw meat, cook it first. I prefer to use sausages and pre-cooked meat because it makes this trivial to pull together quickly. You can also make this in the crock pot by cooking up the onions and meat, then tossing everything into the crock pot and cooking on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. This freezes well, too, so if you have leftovers you can make up single serving packages and toss them in the freezer.
I serve this up with dill pickles and bread, because it’s what Nagymama always did. It goes well with just about everything, though.
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