(Non) Goulash with Prunes

A specialty of Hungarian cuisine, goulash made its way across the Europe. To my country it probably got together with the traveling Hungarian doctors back in the 19 century, if not earlier, especially through the manor and merchant culture. Either way, the further it traveled from home, the less goulashy it became it seems. What my grandparents knew as "goulash" does not have much in coomon with an original Hungarian dish. Actually, what we used to have as a popular dish of the same name in the infamous soviet lunch eateries did not resemble the original either; there it mostly consisted of a few tasteless pieces of a leathery beef swimming in the rather suspicious substance called sauce.
The home made version of our (non)goulash has a few versions, you can add carrots to it, make it with flour based sauce, or even make it with pork, but that recipe I will split to some other post. I usually make this version, with dried prunes and a touch of tomato. The exact amount of beef depends on how many people are at a dinner table, we usually take about 600-800 g for 2 adults and 2 kids to last for 2 days. As it is slow cooking dish, it is something you make one day and then warm up leftovers on the next.

Need:
600 g of good beef, suitable for long cooking.
100 g of boneless dried plums (prunes)
1 spoon of tomato paste or ketchup
50 g of butter or oil
3 onions
3 cloves of garlic
Spices:
a pinch of black pepper,
1 tea spoon of salt (actual amount depends on how salty you like your food, tasting is the key)
1 tea spoon of paprika powder
1 tea spoon of dried oregano
1 tea spoon of dried thyme

Boiled potato for garnish, possibly in a combination with a red cabbage.

Cut the beef into the pieces, more or less a bite size. Chop the onions in half rings.
I use heavy cast iron pot for making it, but it is possible to make it in any pot with a thick bottom. Melt the butter in the pot and add the spices: garlic, paprika, herbs, salt and pepper, then put the meat in, together with onions. Fry it for a few minutes, until it turns sort of glistering and not red anymore. Pour the water in, about 1.5 liter and let it come to boil. Add roughly chopped prunes and tomato paste, turn the heat down and slowly cook it on low fire for 3 hours.
When there is about an hour left to cook, start with the potatoes, so they are ready around the same time when the meat is done. I like boiled potatoes most with it, but fries or other kinds work well too.