Chicken Paprikash with Cucumber Salad and Spaetzle

My advice for Hungarian cooking? Add more paprika than you think you need. Chicken Paprikash is one of those dishes that everyone has an opinion on how to do right or wrong. Full disclosure: every time I make chicken paprikash, it’s a little bit different. Just like my grandmother, I never follow a recipe! Treat this one as a loose framework upon which you can build. After you make this dish a few times, you’ll get a feel for how much paprika you’d like to include, maybe a little more tomato, maybe a little less, and so on.

History of Paprikash

Believe it or not, paprikash actually predates the addition of paprika. Hungarian families were making one pot chicken stews before peppers came to Europe from the New World. Paprika, which is made out of crushed hot, semi-hot, or sweet peppers, became a staple in Hungarian cooking once it spread to Central Europe, maybe because of the warm, flavorful quality that makes it ideal for the stews and roasts of the region’s cuisine. Paprika is now Hungary’s national spice, grown in farms all around the country and a staple of paprikash, a classic Hungarian dish.

Chicken Paprikash Recipe

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• Author: Csilla Thackray

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Description

A family recipe straight from Hungary.

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Ingredients

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• 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs + 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
• Lard or canola oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 medium-size green bell peppers, deseeded and thinly sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 2 large paste tomatoes, core removed and diced
• 1 heaping tbsp Hungarian paprika + more to taste
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp water
• Sour cream (optional)

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Instructions

1. The day before preparation, season the chicken liberally with salt and refrigerate uncovered overnight. The following day, coat a large sauté pan with a nice layer of lard or canola over medium-high heat. Pat the seasoned chicken with a paper towel and gently lay in the heated pan skin side down. Let the skin brown over medium heat and then remove the chicken from the pan.
2. Sauté the onion, bell pepper, and garlic in the residual fat with a good pinch of salt until soft and fragrant. Add the tomato and cook until they have begun to partially break down. Stir in a heaping tablespoon of Hungarian paprika and return the chicken to the pan, skin side up. Cover the pan and turn the heat to the lowest possible setting.
3. Let the chicken stew, releasing all of its juices into the pan, until very tender and nearly falling off of the bone. Always temperature-check your chicken and ensure that it is registering 165 degrees in the thickest part of the breast and thighs.
4. Once tender, remove the chicken from the pan. In a separate container, create a slurry by combining the cornstarch and water. Add the slurry to the sauce in the pan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, for at least 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Taste for paprika and salt.
5. When the sauce is thickened and adjusted for seasoning, you can either add in a nice dollop of sour cream to the sauce, or just leave it as is. Either way, return the chicken back to the pan and serve with more sour cream, a nice egg noodle, and cucumber salad.

Recipe by Csilla Thackray
Styling by Keith Recker
Photography by Laura Petrilla

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