Holocene-era Hungarian Goulash

Okay, the title was a reach. But this goulash is quite tasty - at first glance there's a lot of onion in the recipe, but the majority of the onion breaks down completely (due to the long cooking time) and helps to thicken it. It would be good over rice, if I ate rice, but I don't. Sometimes we'll have it over "riced cauliflower", but more often than not I'll just have a big bowl of this as-is.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup oil (olive oil, coconut oil, or similar)
• 3 onions, peeled, chopped in half, and thinly sliced
• 2 Tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp salt + 1 tsp
  
• 1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
• 3 pounds (1.2kg) cubed stewing beef or other suitable meat (kangaroo works well)
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1-1/2 cups water
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and cook the onions until soft. Remove the onions and set aside.
2. While the onions are cooking, combine in a bowl the paprika, pepper, and 2 tsp of the salt, then toss the meat in this mixture.
3. After the onions are removed from the oil, brown the meat in the same pot.
4. After the meat is browned on all sides, add the onions back to the pot, along with the tomato paste, water, garlic, and the remainder of the salt.
5. Bring to a low boil, reduce to low heat, and simmer for at least 2 hours, until the meat is tender and the onions are mostly gone.