Slow Cooker Beef Goulash

Ingredients:
550g (19oz.) of Diced Beef or Stewing Steak
2 cans of chopped tomatoes in juice
A few Tbsp. (roughly 1/2 cup) sour cream
1/2 cup diced sweet onion
2 stalks celery
2 medium carrots
2 cloves of garlic (pressed)
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. Smoked Spanish Paprika
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Bay leaf
Pink salt and cracked black pepper to taste
A large slow cooker (crockpot)


*Smoked Spanish paprika is definitely the star of this dish and gives it all of the signature flavour.  For the sake bold flavour, I normally insist on using only quality Italian chopped tomatoes, even if they're more expensive.  Cheaper tinned tomatoes can be watery and lacking in flavour, but if you need to skimp and save the money by using less expensive ones, this is one dish where you may just get away with it.  Since the smoked paprika is the most important ingredient, the exact type of tomatoes isn't as important, as long as they taste like tomatoes.  Ordinary sweet paprika doesn't give it the right punch, so be sure to use the good smoked stuff.  Schwartz makes one in addition to their normal paprika.  You can also get it in tins imported from Spain in farmers markets or in good fruit and veg/deli shops like 'Get Fresh.'

Method:
First, prepare your vegetables and mince the garlic cloves.  Split the celery stalks lengthwise and dice into small chunks.  Cut the carrots into small coins at the smaller end and half-coins at the larger end.  Dice the onion.  Place all the veg in the slow cooker, but not the garlic.  Next, prepare the meat.  Mix the 2 tablespoons of flour with the tablespoon of paprika and the raw minced garlic in a large bowl.  Add the meat to the bowl and mix thoroughly around by hand or with a spoon until the meat is coated.  Put the meat mixture into a non-stick pan on a medium heat and toss around for a few moments to seal the meat on all sides if possible.  Put the meat in the slow cooker with the veggies.  De-glaze the pan with a little water and scrape the juices into the slow cooker.  Next, pour in 2 cans of chopped tomatoes with juice, add a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and a few dashes of cracked black pepper and pink salt (Go light with it at this stage, as you can taste it when the meat is cooked and add more at that stage.) and a bay leaf.  Stir the mixture well and put the slow cooker on low for roughly 6 hours.  Taste towards the end to judge whether you need to add more salt and pepper.  About half an hour before the end of cooking time, remove the bay leaf, stir in sour cream and re-cover to finish cooking.  Serve over macaroni or rice.  

This amount serves 3 of us for 2 nights with some left over.