Hungarian Chicken Paprika and Dumplings
This is my Mom's recipe, and it is tried and true.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 (3 pound) chicken, cut into pieces
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- Salt
- 2 heaping tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
- 1 tomato, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
Dumplings
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- About 3/4 to 1 cup water
Method
- Chicken: Brown the chicken and onions and garlic in the butter till brown, adding salt midway. Remove the chicken and add paprika and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato and 1/2 cup chicken broth; lower heat and simmer 5 minutes.
- Return chicken to the pan and cook for 30-40 minutes. Remove the chicken and keep it warm.
- Sprinkle the flour over the drippings, stirring briskly to smooth and blend and simmer for 3
- minutes. Gradually add enough chicken broth to make 1 cup of liquid, then stir in the heavy
- cream. When it is heated through, turn off the heat and add the sour cream to the sauce, blending quickly so that it doesn't boil. Spoon over the chicken.
- Dumplings: Mix egg, salt and water. Add enough flour to make a soft dough.
- Heat a pot of water. Add salt. At the boil, make small teaspoonsful of the dough and pull it off the plate into the water. When they come to the surface, cook 1-2 minutes and drain. Add to the paprika sauce. In a pinch, you can just make wide noodles or bow ties instead of the dumplings.
Sometimes I omit the heavy cream and put in a pint of sour cream. Although my Mom did not do it, I occasionally add chopped green peppers and mushrooms to the cooking chicken. I sometimes would make it with boneless chicken breasts only, adjusting the cooking time accordingly (be sure not to over-cook). Sometimes I also remove the chicken skin and debone it. Not authentic Hungarian, I know. My Mom would kill me if she knew!
Posted by jerseyjan at Recipe Goldmine 2004/1/27 17:14.