Chicken Paprikash

Hi! Hungarian-Czech American here. I've tried every recipe out there. Some comments:
--CRITICAL: heat onions til transparent, then REMOVE pan from heat. Add paprika and mush into paste. Why? Paprika is fat soluble and if hits side of pan and burns, turns bitter. Besides fresh paprika this is the most important step. Only then add chicken (which I do raw, unseasoned).
--Tomato or not tomato? serious question. As far as i am concerned if include tomato or tomato paste it is not authentic :-)

Why are spices sold in large quantities if they are going to be tasteless so quickly?

The traditional starch is actually "nokedli"/spaetzli. Egg/flour based dough but is actually really a treat to make from scratch and not difficult.

The start of this dish (onions + paprika) is the standard start to many Hungarian stews (gulyas, porkolt). From there, you take different directions depending on the meat and what else you add. Easy to remember 1T paprika and 1 onion per pound of meat.

Finally - these work great in slow cooker and also freeze beautifully. SUPER easy.

Lovely recipe. And you are right about the freshness of paprika. I must add that recipes are regional in Hungary, so to call one "the" Hungarian chicken paprikash recipe would be off. I come from the south of H. and we use the whole chicken, cut up; cook the dish on the stove top only; add absolutely no flour; but add freshly made egg dumplings (galushka), a fresh green pepper (like Hungarian wax), and sour cream is a must :) Fresh, crusty bread to sop up juice. Jo etvagyat!

I love and respect Sam Sifton, but this is a very bad recipe and not just for Hungarians. This is foolproof: in 3 tbs of oil, fry a large, diced onion till transparent. Pull off the heat and add one tbs of paprika and the washed, cut up pieces of chicken. Stir. Return to heat and add a cup of water and some salt. Cook covered on slow heat for an hour. Pull off the heat and add 6 ounces of sour cream, or better still crème fraiche or cream, stir and serve.

Boys, if you are in the dog house with your wife and never cook, make this for a Saturday evening dinner. Serve with several cool pilsners, and you'll be able to inch you way out of the dog house.

An after dinner whiskey aperitif (like Scotch) on the patio will help a little more.

Good luck. It worked for me.

Alwa;ys store paprika in the refrigerator. It's the one spice that bugs can colonize.

I buy all my spices from Penzey's (http://penzeys.com/ ) online. They offer spices is small containers. I believe their products are fresher. They have brick & mortar stores; if you live in a metropolitan area, there is probably one near you ..

Sweet Rose - or Noble Rose - Paprika, and x-nay on the tomatoes. Check out George Lang's The Cuisine of Hungary. And, the paprika: in the day there was H. Roth & Sons and Paprikas Weiss (RIP), selling 10, or more, varieties of paprika, all imported from Hungary, and arranged in a long, partitioned box, from sweet to hot. Between Lang, the proprietors at those shops, and a Hungarian friend, I learned to make it with lots of sauteed onions, sweet rose paprika, and nary a tomato in sight.

You'll need
- 2 eggs (preferably, L-sized)
- ~7 oz of flour
- 0.5 cup of water
- 2 pinches of salt

Throw all together in a bowl and form a thin dough that's just about not runny.

Boil some water, just like for pasta. Grab your cheese grinder, turn it over and scrape the dough through, into the boiling water. They are ready when they float up after like 3 minutes.

You can check below for reference:
http://www.foodislife.hu/wp-content/uploads/nokedli-fozes-kozben-1024x76...

My family is from Spain and we use a lot of paprika (or pimenton, rather) as well, and the number one rule is to NEVER add it to the oil or butter over the flame because it burns so easily. In fact, it's best to not only remove the pan from the heat, but allow it a few minutes to cool down. As another commenter noted, it's oil soluable so you don't need to blast paprika with heat to get its flavor.

it does but just will be a little dry. the classic recipe is an entire chicken so the breast would be included. Another hack i'd recommend is boneless skinless thighs because it's less fatty and super easy.

Hi Kristina,

I'd have to say, your student was not right.
The sour cream with flour is authentic. If you don't add them, you've got pörkölt, not paprikás.
Tomatoes, on the other hand are not exactly authentic, but are used regionally. I, for example, usually include them as they add nicely to the juice. For this you need to peel and chop them so they blend in during cooking.
I'd recommend you add garlic as well - also kind of a regional/personal preference.

Make it up to the point you add the sour cream. Take out what you want to save and freeze it. Add the sour cream when you reheat and serve.

I have had success keeping paprika in the refrigerator (and for longer periods, in the freezer) tightly sealed up.