Eastern European cuisine is generally lesser known among the Western European countries, let alone in the rest of the world - huge mistake! Although less influental than French, Italian, Spanish etc. cuisine, it is not any less delicious and has its own characteristics.

Many dishes from these countries were inspired purely by the lack of money and the are highly influenced by the weather and the seasonal goods available. I remember from my childhood eating cabbages and green peas all the time in the winter, pear and plum pies in the summer and lots and lots of apples in the autumn until we got sick of them eventually. Oh, and lots of meat, mainly pork - hungarians just love meat, so much that the majority of our dishes contain some part of a pig (meat, blood, intestines, skin, ears, literally everything).

Perhaps one of the most famous dishes from this country is the Goulas ("Gulyás") soup. It's a chunky soup with lots of vegetables, meat and most of all, paprika powder. Here is a traditional recipe to prepare this dish.

The almighty Goulash soup

Ingredients

• 500g diced stew beef
• 4 large red onions
• 2 large carrots
• 1 large parsnip
• 5-6 potatoes
• 3 tomatoes
• 3 california peppers
• cumin
• garlic
• parsley
• paprika powder

Method