As I served up a helping of Beef Goulash and Dumplings to my 12 year old for dinner, he looked at the cook book and said it “even looks like the picture!” This dish is the only one that has a photo in the fantastic recipe book by Sally Wise – Slow Cooker as it is on the cover.
What do you think – this was what it looked like when it finished cooking in the slow cooker?
The kids loved this dish. I did make a few tweaks to the original recipe and used smaller quantities than the original too. Next time I would use larger quantities than listed below as there was no left overs from this meal! As with most slow cooker recipes you could easily cook this in the oven on about 180 degrees Celsius for 1.5 – 2 hours.
Beef Goulash and Dumplings
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 500 grams diced blade
- 1.5 cups of diced canned tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1.5 tablespoons paprika – now I didn’t use paprika, which probably means this really isn’t a goulash, but my kids are bit iffy with paprika. Instead I used 3 tablsepoons of sweet chilli sauce.
- 2 teaspoons beef stock powder
- 1/2 cup water
Ingredients for dumplings:
The ingredients for dumplings listed below is actually double what the book listed. I doubled it as I knew my kids would all want a few each – and I was right! If you have a family smaller than 7, then you may want to halve the quantities below.
- 2 cups self raising flour
- 75 grams butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (I used dried)
- 3/4 cup milk
Method:
- Finely chop onion.
- Toss the meat in flour. (If the meat is in a plastic bag, I just add the flour to the bag and shake with some vigour.)
- Heat butter in frying pan, add onion and garlic and fry for a minute or two then add meat and brown.
- Add spices and stir constantly for a couple of minutes, so the heat releases the flavours.
- Transfer meat to the slow cooker, add tomatoes, tomato paste, sweet chilli sauce (or paprika), beef stock powder, water and salt and pepper to taste.
- Combine well then place lid on and cook on High for 4 or 8 hours on low.
- About 45 minutes before you want to serve, start making the dumplings. The dumplings will need to cook on high, so if you have the slow cooker on low, change it to high now.
- To make the dumplings, it is very much like making scones. Add salt to the flour and then rub the butter in until it looks like bread crumbs.
- Add the parsley and pour in milk to combine into a dough, using a knife to mix.
- Roll into balls – ours were just a bit bigger than the size of a walnut.
- Measure out a piece of baking paper that will cover and over hang slightly from the slow cooker. Spray the baking paper with cooking oil on one side.
- Place dumplings on top of the goulash and then cover with the baking paper. The oil covered side should be closest to the goulash.
- Cook for about 40 minutes, then serve.
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 500 grams diced blade
- 1.5 cups of diced canned tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1.5 tablespoons paprika - now I didn't use paprika, which probably means this really isn't a goulash, but my kids are bit iffy with paprika. Instead I used 3 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce.
- 2 teaspoons beef stock powder
- ½ cup water
- The ingredients for dumplings listed below is actually double what the book listed. I doubled it as I knew my kids would all want a few each - and I was right! If you have a family smaller than 7, then you may want to halve the quantities below.
- 2 cups self raising flour
- 75 grams butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (I used dried)
- ¾ cup milk
- Finely chop onion.
- Toss the meat in flour. (If the meat is in a plastic bag, I just add the flour to the bag and shake with some vigour.)
- Heat butter in frying pan, add onion and garlic and fry for a minute or two then add meat and brown.
- Add spices and stir constantly for a couple of minutes, so the heat releases the flavours.
- Transfer meat to the slow cooker, add tomatoes, tomato paste, sweet chilli sauce (or paprika), beef stock powder, water and salt and pepper to taste.
- Combine well then place lid on and cook on High for 4 or 8 hours on low.
- About 45 minutes before you want to serve, start making the dumplings. The dumplings will need to cook on high, so if you have the slow cooker on low, change it to high now.
- To make the dumplings, it is very much like making scones. Add salt to the flour and then rub the butter in until it looks like bread crumbs.
- Add the parsley and pour in milk to combine into a dough, using a knife to mix.
- Roll into balls - ours were just a bit bigger than the size of a walnut.
- Measure out a piece of baking paper that will cover and over hang slightly from the slow cooker. Spray the baking paper with cooking oil on one side.
- Place dumplings on top of the goulash and then cover with the baking paper. The oil covered side should be closest to the goulash.
- Cook for about 40 minutes, then serve.
Our Family Menu Plan for this week.
Baking: 100s of biscuits
Monday: Savoury Beef – new recipe to try for the week.
Tuesday: Chicken Lasagne
Wednesday: Fried Rice
Thursday: Left Overs
Friday: Scrambled Eggs
Saturday: Marinated Chicken Sticks With Salad
Sunday: Sausages and Steamed Vegetables
If you are looking for further recipe inspiration, check out my complete list of Family Friendly Recipes. All of these recipes are in the database of the Planning With Kids Free Menu Planner. You can use the menu planner to plan a week of meals for your family and then print out the associated shopping list.