Gulyás

Gulyás (pronounced Gooy-ush, more or less) is the national dish of Hungary and I've been wanting to give it a go for some time. Finally I convinced one of my Hungarian friends to reveal the secret recipe that - if I understood it right - originates from 12th century Transylvania and has been passed on from generation to generation since.

The dish is essentially beef soup with pasta balls but the original flavouring (paprika and caraway seeds) gives it a bite. I thought it could have done with some garlic but the recipe explicitly forbade that.

All in all a very nice dish with a pleasant aftertaste that stays for a long time. It did make me very thirsty though and water doesn't seem to help, not sure what will...