German goulash

Serves 6

Preparation time: 20 minutes 
Cooking time:
3 hours

Ingredients
Oil 
1kg beef shin (Chuck or brisket) cut into chunks 
1kg onions, finely diced 
1 tbsp paprika 
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika 
2 tbsp tomato purée   
400ml dark German beer 
1 tbsp sugar 
1 tsp ground black pepper 
2 tsp marjoram 
500ml beef stock 
* 150ml cola (optional)
700g potatoes (I like Vivaldi) 
Salt 
Pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 160c. 

In a casserole dish heat 1 tbsp of the oil over a medium high heat.  Making sure not to crowd the pan, brown the beef in batches until the meat is golden, adding a tbsp of oil each time to ensure the pan stays hot and the beef browns nicely, putting each batch to one side as you go.   

Reduce the heat to medium and add a tbsp of oil and the onions.  After a few mins the onions should start to release moisture, when they do, scrape the meat bits off of the bottom of the pan and continue to cook until they are soft and just starting to change colour.  This should take around 10 minutes so if your onions start to cook too quickly just lower the heat a little. 

When the onions are soft add both paprikas, stir through and cook for a min then add the tomato purée, stir and cook for another minute. Add the beer slowly, thoroughly stirring as you add. Add all the other ingredients EXCEPT for the potatoes. Cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours, stirring from time to time 

After the 2 hours is almost up, peel and cut the potatoes into bite size chunks. Stir through the goulash and put back in the oven until the potatoes are tender, 30-45 minutes. 

The best way to serve this is to reheat the next day for 20-30 minutes after the flavours have had time to fully develop although it is gorgeous straight from the oven too.