Doyle’s (and Leslie’s) Mom’s Hungarian Goulash

You guys.  Have you ever had goulash? 

I realize it’s not a super common food for most people.  For me, it was a childhood staple.  It was my favorite thing my mom made for an incredibly long period of life. 

It’s a really simple dish – basically the Hungarian version of a Bolognese sauce.  We ate it over egg noodles a lot when I was little, and of course made it with meat. 

But a couple tweaks to cut down the sodium and make it vegan, and voila!  Vegan (and fantastic!) goulash, that is actually pretty damn healthy! 

I kept it really simple and true to the old recipe, though it’s definitely lacking in vegetables.  You could certainly add some veggies to the mixture, or just serve with a big salad alongside like I did.  I think shredded carrots and yams would be incredible with this (maybe even stir in some spinach until it wilts?), so I might branch out and try that next. 

I can’t even remember what reminded me of goulash recently, but it was in the back of my mind.  When I went to my parents’ house, I pulled out my mom’s old photo book that she used to slip recipes into and asked her if our old goulash recipe was in there.  She seemed pretty surprised to hear me mention it, but said she guessed it’s still in there, she didn’t remember ever taking it out.  A couple pages in, there it was!  The old newspaper clipping we used for so many years – Doyle’s Mom’s Hungarian Goulash.  Who knows who Doyle or his mom are, but many thanks to them.

So here’s my updated version:
serves 6
1 pound steamed lentils
1 T olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
8 oz jar tomato sauce
1/4 C ketchup*
2 t garlic powder
1/2 t salt
1 t black pepper
1 pound cooked campanelle pasta (or whatever shape you want!)
*you could probably cut this down to just a couple tablespoons for extra flavor, but I still wanted to have that familiar ketchup-y taste 😉  don’t forget to use low sodium!!!

Saute onion in olive oil until softened and translucent.  Then add everything else and cook until heated through.  Pour over pasta! 

Hey, that was easy 😉

Another super exciting thing today!  Today is Flora Foodie’s birthday!  My little blog is two years old, hooray!

*** if you’re wondering what the weird black toast is in the pictures, my mom gave me some awesome black garlic from Trader Joe’s for Christmas – it’s fermented and sweet and strange.  I’m working on finding the best way to use it, and I’ll post more about it then.  I don’t think garlic bread is its best way…

Nutrition facts per serving: Calories: 553; Calories from Fat: 63; Total Fat: 7.0g; Sodium: 226mg; Total Carbohydrates: 94.0g; Dietary Fiber: 24.2g; Sugars: 6.0; Protein: 28.9g

This is a higher calorie meal than I usually post, but seriously check out that fiber and protein content!!!!

 

Check out healthy vegan Fridays – they’re back!!!


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3 responses to “Doyle’s (and Leslie’s) Mom’s Hungarian Goulash”

  1. Healthy Vegan Fridays #3

    […] Hungarian Goulash from Flora Foodie~In my pre-vegan days goulash was one of my favorite, quick, go-to dinners when I had bare cupboards and an empty fridge. I haven’t tried to re-create it to a vegan version and now I don’t have to! This looks delicious. […]

  2. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    Just checking, is the ‘one pound steamed lentils’ a pound of lentils, steamed…or do you steam lentils and then weigh out one pound of them?

    1. Leslie Kolafa Avatar

      That’s a pound of lentils steamed. You can buy them in pre-steamed packages which usually come in a one-pound size. They have them in the refrigerated section at Trader Joe’s and health food stores.

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