Hearty beef goulash with herbed dumplings

What better on a chilly day than a plate of steaming hot beef stew with light, fluffy dumplings? This Hungarian favourite is a firm favourite when it comes to feasting in the cooler months. I especially love the homemade dumplings.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 750g rump beef, trimmed of visible fat and cut into chunks
• 1 tbsp hot paprika
• 400g can no-added-salt diced tomatoes
• 2 cups salt-reduced beef stock
• 1 large potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and thickly sliced
• 1 red capsicum, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup light sour cream

THE DUMPLINGS

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1 tbsp margarine spread
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
• 1/3 cup reduced-fat milk

Method

1. Heat half the oil in a large, deep, heavy-based pan over medium heat and cook onions for about 10 minutes, or until golden. Remove onion from pan, set aside.
2. Increase heat, using remaining oil, brown beef in batches. Return all the beef to the pan with onions. Stir through paprika, tomatoes and stock. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 1/4 hours. In the last 30 minutes of cooking, prepare the dumplings.
3. To make dumplings, sift flour into a bowl, rub in margarine with fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in rosemary, add nearly all of the milk and mix to a soft dough using a knife. Turn onto a floured surface and lightly knead until smooth. Divide into 12 equal pieces and roll into rough balls.
4. Stir in potato, carrot, capsicum and sour cream. Drop dumplings on top of beef mixture in pan. Cover with lid and cook for 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and dumplings are cooked through.