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Chicken
Paprikas is one of the most basic, and
perhaps one of the easiest of
all Hungarian recipes.It is
reasonably fast and requires few ingredients and little preparation time,
especially if the onions are chopped in your food processor.
The cooking time will vary with the amount
of chicken, but because the chicken simmers slowly in the paprika broth, it is
easy to tell when it is cooked. One
step that must be followed religiously is sautéing the onions slowly for at
least 20 minutes. (thighs and upper thighs are very good) 2-3 large onions chopped— or an amount to be about 1/3 of the weight of the chicken. Don’t skimp! Chop using the pulse feature rather than the regular chop which may over chop the onions, resulting in a pulp. (The onions should be finely chopped, but still be individual pieces) Oil or bacon fat for sautéing onions 3 Tablespoons paprika-- or enough to give it a vivid color Salt 1-2 tablespoons ketchup 2-3 slices of bell pepper
1 small carton sour cream 2 Tablespoons flour cooked noodles or homemade dumplings
In a large cooking pot, add about 3 Tablespoons oil or
bacon fat and heat.When oil is hot,
add onions and stir immediately.Reduce
heat to medium and continue to saute onions. If they begin to stick, add about Ľ cup water and continue stirring.They should not stick to the pan and they
should not get brown.Reduce heat even
more if necessary, but onions should still be cooking. Salt the onion lightly while cooking. Salt helps soften the onions and will be
needed anyway for seasoning. It is best to watch onions constantly, stirring
often, to make sure they don’t burn. When they are really limp and transparent, they are ready. Careful cooking of the onions is the most
important part of this dish. Cooking
the onions takes anywhere from 20 minutes or more, depending on how large a
quantity you are making.
When the onions are ready add the chicken pieces to the
and turn the heat up and quickly sear the chicken, stirring the onion and chicken thoroughly for about 3 minutes.The skin side
of the chicken pieces should be just lightly golden, not brown.Add enough water to the pot to cover the
chicken.Reduce heat enough to keep
pot simmering. Immediately add 2 heaping tsps. paprika, ketchup, and bell
pepper. The color should be a rich orange red.
If it looks anemic, add more paprika.
Cover and continue to cook until chicken is tender. Reduce heat before
adding sour cream.
Blend flour into sour cream. When chicken is tender,
finish sauce by adding the sour cream and flour mixture to the sauce. Stir to blend completely and cook for about 2-3 minutes.Add salt to taste.Serve over noodles or homemade dumplings.
Nokedli:
 These are easier to make if you have a noodle cutter, a gadget that looks something like a cheese grater. There are various shapes and sizes of these.I have seen them on the web at Hungarian specialty stores and they are not cheap.However, I bought one called a Chinese noodle maker at Cost Plus for a couple dollars a few years ago.It works great. If you don’t have one, a paring knife and small cutting board works just as well (although it takes longer). 1 egg plus 2 yolks (the whites make the dumplings tough) 2 cups flour (Wondra flour is much easier to blend with eggs) salt, 1/2 tsp water
Traditional method: Combine flour and eggs in a mixing bowl. Add enough water to make the mixture into a dough.Beat until smooth, using a stroke that beats through the middle of the mixture against the side of the bowl.When the dough is completely smooth, (this takes awhile), it leaves the sides of the bowl clean as you beat and sort of makes airy noises.Place the dough into the noodle gadget over the boiling water and using the slide or the knife, quickly extrude the dumplings into the pot.If you don’t have the gadget, place the dough on a cutting board over the boiling water and using a small sharp paring knife, cut the dough into pieces about the size of an almond and quickly push each piece off the cutting board into the pot. When the dough is completely used up, stir the dumplings to keep them from sticking together. Continue to boil until they all rise to the top do not overcook.Drain season with salt.
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