Authentic Hungarian Chicken Paprikash Recipes

HUNGARIAN CHICKEN PAPRIKASH

Steps:

• Place a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp, about 4 minutes. Add onion and cook until soft and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Add chicken and tomatoes. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in paprika. Pour in 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup water and season with salt. Cover and simmer over low heat for 25 minutes. Remove lid and cook an additional 5 minutes.
• Transfer chicken to a plate and keep warm. Mix sour cream and 1 teaspoon cold water together in a small bowl. Add mixture to the pot and stir until gravy is evenly colored and smooth. Return chicken to the pot, cover and simmer on low for another 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, stir flour and salt together in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix egg and water together. Gradually add flour mixture and stir together until dumpling batter is very thick and mixture breaks from a spoon.
• Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add 2 teaspoons salt.
• Drop 1/2 teaspoons of dumpling batter into the boiling water. Dumplings will rise to the surface in about 1 minute; boil for 5 minutes more. Use a slotted spoon to transfer dumplings to a bowl. Repeat steps until batter is used up and all dumplings are cooked. Mix 1 teaspoon of butter with cooked dumplings. Add dumplings to chicken mixture in the pot and allow to heat through.

AUTHENTIC CHICKEN PAPRIKASH (PAPRIKáS CSIRKE)

Steps:

• Heat the lard in a heavy pot and brown the chicken on all sides. Transfer the chicken to a plate. In the same oil, add the onions and fry until golden brown. Add the garlic and tomatoes (and pepper if using) and fry another 2-3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the paprika, salt and pepper (paprika becomes bitter if scorched).
• Return the chicken to the pot and place it back over the heat. Pour in the chicken broth. The chicken should be mostly covered. Bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 40 minutes. Remove the chicken and transfer to a plate.
• In a small bowl, stir the flour into the sour cream/cream mixture to form a smooth paste. Stir the cream mixture into the sauce, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Bring it to a simmer for a couple of minutes until the sauce is thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste. Return the chicken to the sauce and simmer to heat through.
• Serve the chicken paprikash with Hungarian nokedli, which is like German Spaetzle only they're very short and stubby. You can make nokedli with a spätzle scraper and using this recipe for the dough.

AUTHENTIC HUNGARIAN CHICKEN PAPRIKASH

Steps:

• In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the onion until translucent.
• Add the green pepper, cook for 5 minutes or so, and add the mushrooms.
• Cook until the mushrooms are just softened.
• Add the paprika, caraway, pepper and salt (if you are not using salty stock, such as bullion cubes.)
• Stir and add the chicken thighs and mix.
• Add the tomatoes and enough stock to mostly cover the chicken.
• Cover and simmer slowly for approximately 45 minutes.
• The chicken should be falling off the bone, very tender.
• Remove the chicken to a deep serving plate that has been warmed.
• Reduce the stock a bit if it looks like it will be too much sauce.
• Mix some stock fully into the sour cream to thin it a bit, and then mix the sour cream into the rest of the stock.
• Heat until hot, but Do Not Boil.
• Pour the sauce over the chicken, and serve over buttered egg noodles.
• Miscellaneous Notes:.
• Use 8 thighs if very large. "Bone in" is great.
• Canned tomatoes are fine, as are bouillon cubes for the stock (in which case, don't add salt until the end, after you taste) and low-fat sour cream.
• The prep time includes chopping and sauteing the veggies, and making the sauce at the end.

HUNGARIAN CHICKEN PAPRIKASH

Steps:

• Combine flour, 2 tbsp paprika, salt and pepper.
• Dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture.
• Reserve left over flour.
• Add oil to large dutch oven.
• Heat oil over medium high heat.
• Add chicken and brown on both sides, about 10 minutes.
• Remove chicken from pot.
• Add little oil to pot (if bottom appears to be too dry).
• Add onion, red pepper, 1 tbsp paprika, and salt.
• Saute until onion is tender, about 2 minutes.
• Return chicken to pot, and add enough chicken broth to cover.
• Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer about 30 to 45 minutes, until chicken is done.
• Remove from heat and let paprikash cool down.
• Combine reserved flour and 1/2 cup sour cream.
• Add small amount of liquid from pot into flour mixture and stir with whisk until smooth.
• Add mixture to pot, stirring constantly.
• Simmer 5 minutes.
• Let cool down again and add remaining sour cream, stirring constantly.
• Sauce should be a very pale orange color (almost white).
• Cook about 1 minute until heated.
• Serve over homemade Hungarian nokedli (spaetzel), wide egg noodles, or cooked cavatelli.

CHEF JOHN'S CHICKEN PAPRIKASH

Steps:

• Season chicken generously on both sides with salt. Heat olive oil in a heavy, deep-sided pan (that comes with a lid) over high heat and brown the chicken well, skin-side down, about 5 minutes; flip and continue to sear until other side is browned, 3 to 4 minutes more. Turn off heat. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate and reserve until needed; spoon out excess chicken fat if desired.
• Add onions and a pinch of salt to the same pan and saute over medium until golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomato paste, and flour and cook, stirring, another 3 to 4 minutes to form a tomato roux. Stir in 1 teaspoon kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, smoked paprika, and sweet paprika and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer over high heat.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and transfer chicken and accumulated juices back into the pan. Baste the tops with the sauce, cover the pan with the lid, and simmer, basting occasionally with the sauce, until the chicken is no longer pink in the centers and is fork-tender, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove the chicken and transfer to a plate.
• Skim some fat off the top of the sauce if desired. Whisk heavy cream and sour cream into the sauce and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Transfer the chicken and any juices back into the sauce. Simmer, uncovered, basting often, until chicken is heated through and very tender, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

HUNGARIAN CHICKEN PAPRIKASH

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir until tender. Sprinkle chicken with paprika, salt and pepper; place in an ungreased roasting pan. Spoon onion mixture over chicken. Add water. Bake, covered, 1-1/2 hours or until chicken juices run clear., Remove chicken and keep warm. Pour drippings and loosened browned bits from roasting pan into a saucepan. Skim fat. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and cold water until smooth. Stir into pan juices with onion. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream. Serve with chicken.