Pasta makes the Italian!

Passport & Plate - Chicken Paprikash

Hungary | Monday, March 10, 2014 | 4 photos

Ingredients
Halushki:
1 Egg
1/2 Tsp salt
1 cup Flour

Chicken Paprikash:
2-3 lbs bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
salt and pepper
2 large onions chopped
1 red bell peppers
1/4 cup paprika
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbs flour

 

How to prepare this recipe
Halushki:
Beat together all ingredients. Then 'throw' (drop in smaller than gnocchi-size pieces) dough from board into boiling, salted water. Cook until they rise to top of water and drain.

Chicken Paprikash:
- Heat large, oiled pan and fry chicken until browned on each side.
- Remove and set aside chicken. Saute onions and peppers.
- Add paprika and continue frying until paprika is fragrant.
- Add chicken stock and return chicken to pan, making sure it is on the bottom. Simmer until tender.
- Mix sour cream with flour and a couple spoonfuls of braising liquid, which you will then put back in the pan and mix everything together and let sauce thicken.
- Pour on top of a pile of halushki and serve!

Note: Halushki can be prepared while simmering the chicken. And the dumplings can be made rather hastily with a potato ricer for those who haven't skillfully mastered the art of speedy dough throwing.

 

The story behind this recipe
This opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time, as I just returned from a 3 month exploration (inwards and outwards) in Prague to find that my aunt had waiting for me recipes from my great grandmother. Today I bring you Chicken Paprikash, a traditional Hungarian meal composed of dumplings, chicken, and sauce; a typical meal you find throughout central Europe and not unlike the pasta, and more specifically, the gnocchi, of Italy.

My past trip included a pilgrimage to the very village in the middle-of-nowhere Slovakia that my ancestors came from in 1914, so the fact that I have a recipe from my Slovak-Hungarian family is really great, as mementos like these are the only things I will ever know them by.

My time spent in the Czech Republic and Slovakia was life-changing in many ways, one of them being discovering how much I loved carbohydrates and meat doused in a cream based sauce, therefore making this recipe a no brainer. Recipes like these are usually associated with poorer, more provincial countries (not making it any less delicious, mind you!) and these days are touted as being ‘TRADITIONAL CZECH/HUNGARIAN/SLOVAK CUISINES!’ at every tourist restaurant. And while they are traditional, daily meals were even simpler, as told to me by my Czech host, and meals such as dumplings and meat were a weekly treat or for special occasions.

So, to celebrate my family name’s 100th year anniversary in America, there was nothing more perfect than my favorite dumpling dish handed down to me through the generations, which has undoubtedly gone unmade in my family for years! This is also the first chance to put this authentic, Hungarian paprika that I picked up in Budapest on my first-ever backpacking trip through Europe in 2012. I’ll be daring and use the ‘Csispös‘ or spicey grade of paprika. If you or your dinner guests aren’t thrilled with sweating foreheads and teary eyes during their meal, you can opt for a sweeter ‘Édesnemes´ grade. Jó étvágyat and Dobrú chut!