Ooglash

What the heck is this you ask? The entire extended family, aunts and uncles alike, love, love, love a 50's style ground beef concoction Grandma Yan made as a weekly kitchen staple while they were growing up. She calls it "Goulash". The entire family calls it "Goulash".  When assorted family members venture back to the Owens Valley for a visit, they call ahead and request a huge pot be on the stove when they arrive.It was time for a meatless adaptation.

This Vegetarian Slow Cooker called her Grandma today to get the original recipe. " Oh...you know, it's all the same stuff that's in stuffed peppers," she said, and proceeded to talk enthusiastically and appreciatively about her new blanket.  At an appropriate break in the conversation, she was asked for specifics about the recipe. She quickly rattled off a proportionless list of ingredients, and without missing a beat, changed course, gleefully recounting her adventures with the new blanket. At the next conversational break, she was asked about ingredient proportions and said absently, "Oh, you know, a bunch of ground beef .... a can of tomatoes in the blender....," and then went right back into blanket revelry. For those who might not have guessed, she loves the new blanket. 

Research on authentic Goulash reveals it to be a Hungarian chunk beef stew that usually has potato as the starch component.  There are numerous Americanized versions of Goulash, and they all have ground beef and starches ranging from potatoes to macaroni, but never corn.  There is only one thing unilaterally common to all Goulash recipes, be they American or Hungarian, and that is paprika. Yan's "Goulash" has no paprika. Its only starch is corn.

For search engine purposes, calling this Goulash didn't seem right and renaming it  "Goolash" seemed even worse.  So because everyone in the family loves Yan's recipe, but especially our recently departed Uncle Oog, (yes that was his real family nickname), its new Vegetarian cyberspace name is "Ooglash".

Winner, Loser or Meh

Three authentic family members love this and have eaten the entire batch in under 20 minutes. Yes. All.Of.It. Grunting Junk Loving Teenager, the one with the broken leg whose wisdom teeth were removed yesterday, jumped the gun and started back on solid food as soon as this was finished.  He had two bowls and returned to his temporary couch ridden life of pain relievers, warm saline oral rinses, jello, and Madden NFL 10.  Uncle Meat & Potatoes, second only to Oog in his love for the original recipe,  has declared it "very, very good." Ya think?

Recipe:

I used a 6 quart crock pot for this

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, peeled, diced
• 2 green peppers, seeded, diced. (I used one green and one red pepper)
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
  
• 28 oz can tomato puree, Italian style
• l lb bag frozen sweet corn
• 2 12 oz packages frozen Morningstar Farms Grillers Crumbles
  
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 3/4 tsp salt (or more to taste)
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Saute onions and peppers until onions are translucent and peppers are softened.  Add garlic and saute for a minute or two more.  Add this and all other ingredients (yes put the stuff in frozen) to the crock.  Stir. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 7-8.