Hungary: Chicken Paprikash

Name: Hungary: Chicken Paprikash
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Hungary
Ingredients: olive oil: 1 Tbsp; butter: 3 Tbsp; salt and pepper; chicken thighs and drumsticks: 4 lbs; yellow onion: 1 large; garlic: 3 cloves; crushed tomatoes: 1 cup; chicken broth: 1 cup; Hungarian paprika: 4 Tbsp; all purpose flour: 4 Tbsp; sour cream: 3/4 cup; egg noodles: 1 lb

Cuisine:

Hungary

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper
4 lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks
1 large yellow onion
thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic
minced
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
4 Tbsp Hungarian paprika
4 Tbsp all purpose flour
3/4 cup sour cream
1 lb egg noodles

Directions

Some of my favorite gifts from abroad are those I can use in my kitchen. Cookbooks, herbs, spices – they allow me to experience a part of your trip by recreating the meals you enjoyed during your travels right at home. When a wonderful colleague brought me this Hungarian paprika from her family trip to Budapest, I was excited to use it to on my culinary journey.

Paprika is a quintessential seasoning in Hungarian cooking, and both hot and sweet paprika are wide spread. As the name would suggest, paprika is the central ingredient in chicken paprikash, one of Hungary’s most popular dishes. Bone-in dark meat chicken is stewed in a tomato sauce flavored with paprika and made creamy using sour cream. It’s traditionally served with egg noodle dumplings (“nokedli”), although I used the common store-bought version.

I actually decided to make this dish on our recent ski trip, having already prepared a grocery list the week prior but not gotten around to it due to all our travel. The ingredients are fairly simple – it won’t require much from your pantry. We were excited that our rental – located about 25 yards from the ski lift – had a full kitchen. The only hiccup I ran into was that we didn’t have a large oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven. Luckily, I’m pretty good at improvising. I browned the chicken in two skillets, then transferred to a glass casserole dish to transfer to the oven. It worked out perfectly. This dish was a hit after a long day on the slopes, and the sauce was definitely the star of the show!

Budapest is on the shortlist for our bi-annual family holiday trip abroad, so hopefully I’ll learn more about Hungarian cuisine very soon!

Recipe Source: New York Times Cooking

Steps

1 Done	Heat oven to 400 F. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil and 1 Tbsp butter over high heat in a large, oven safe sauté pan or Dutch oven. Sear the chicken in batches, skin side down, until crispy and gold - approximately 5-7 minutes. Flip the chicken over and repeat on the other side. Set chicken aside on a plate to rest.
2 Done	Pour off all but about 2 Tbsp of the fat accumulated in the pan and return to the stove over medium heat and add the onion. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has softened - about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a couple more minutes. Finally stir in the paprika and flour and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
3 Done	Add the tomatoes and broth and whisk until smooth. Return the chicken to the pan, nestled in the sauce, and transfer to the oven. Cook until the chicken has cooked through and sauce has thickened slightly, approximately 25-30 minutes.
4 Done	Meanwhile, set a large pot of heavily salted water on the stove and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the noodles and cook until tender, approximately 6-8 minutes. Drain the noodles and toss them in a bowl with the remaining butter.
5 Done	Remove the chicken and sauce from the oven. Carefully transfer the chicken pieces to a plate. Stir the sour cream into the sauce. Serve noodles topped with chicken and sauce.
6 Done