Chicken Paprikash with Spaetzle

In a departure from baking I decided to make a lovely savoury dish, Chicken Paprikash. This is a dish which uses sweet Hungarian paprika. There are different types of paprika, sweet, hot and smoked. This recipes requires the sweet version. Of course, though Hungarian paprika is best for the dish other sweet paprika will be fine too.

The accompanying dish is either nokledi or spaetzle, both of which are small dumplings similar to pasta. That is an easy to make accompaniment. But it can get just a little bit messy. Who doesn’t enjoy a little mess sometimes? I coped with it just fine. So it wasn’t a problem for me. I think that practice will improve my technique too.

The number of portions the recipe makes is dependent on how large those portions are. For me I calculate 4 portions of 2 to 3 chicken thighs.

The ingredients list for both paprikash and spaetzle is not too large. For my paprikash I included red bell pepper as that is often used, but I have seen several versions that omit it.

Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs are what I used. Both bone and skin give flavour to the dish. Sour cream is an often used ingredient in East European dishes. Then just some onion, garlic, drained chopped tomatoes, paprika, flour and stock complete the list. Although I used chicken thighs you could use other cuts, legs, breast etc. I simply prefer thighs as they stay so moist.

For the spaetzle we just need flour, milk, eggs, salt, pepper and a little nutmeg. Of course the paprikash would also be great using any pasta. The nokledi or spaetzle just make it more authentic.

Method

The stove top is used for making both the paprikash and the spaetzle. It doesn’t take too long to make either. But there are two distinct recipes. First make the paprikash and then prepare the spaetzle. For the paprikash first brown the chicken. Then sweat down the onion, garlic and pepper. Add the tomatoes, stock and seasoning and cook for about 30 minutes before adding tempered soured cream.

Using skin-on chicken does release fat, but if there is too much that can simple be spooned out. For mine there wasn’t an excessive amount. I specify some oil to fry the onions, etc. But you may use the fat released from browning the chicken. That is how I fried my onions.

For the spaetzle the ingredients are mixed together to form a thick and sticky paste. A pan of salted boiling water is needed. Use a grater and push the sticky dough through it into the water. The spaetzle cook very quickly, they are done within 2 minutes.

In very little time you have a delicious meal. At the last minute I stirred in some chopped parsley.

I must say this meal tasted very good indeed. The moist chicken with a thickened paprika sauce was wonderful. The spaetzle, with that hint of nutmeg, was great too. Both together made the perfect meal. I accompanied mine with some green salad too.

It is amazing how a few simple ingredients can make such a delicious meal. Not only delicious, but hearty as well.

My niece, who shared the meal commented that she loved it, especially ‘the pasta thingy’.

This is a dish I shall make time and again. It really is that good. Simple and tasty, what could be better?

Another good stove top recipe is: Beef Stroganoff – Quick & Easy.

Chicken Paprikash with Spaetzle

Recipe by geoffcooCourse: Stove top recipesCuisine: HungarianDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

Ingredients

• Paprikash

• 1200kg(about 2 1/2lbs) chicken thighs, with skin and bone

• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced

• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

• 1 400g(14 oz) can of chopped tomatoes, drained

• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

• 18g(2 tbsp) sweet paprika(I used Hungarian)

• 750ml(3 cups) chicken stock

• salt and pepper to taste

• 80ml(1/3 cup) soured cream

• 25g(3 tbsp) plain flour

• 2 tbsp chopped parsley

• 30ml (2 tbps) oil

• Spaetzle

• 280g(1 2/3 cups, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour

• 4g (2/3 tsp) salt

• 2g(1/3 tsp) ground pepper, adjust to personal taste

• 1g(1/4 tsp) ground nutmeg

• 3 medium eggs(large in USA)

• 180ml(3/4 cup) milk

• Large saucepan of salted boiling water.

Directions

• Heat the oil in a large pan, or casserole dish.
• Brown the chicken thighs in the oil, turning over to do both sides. Do this in batches and then set aside.
• Drain off excess fat from the pan and add a little more oil, if needed, then fry of the onions, pepper, tomatoes and garlic on a medium heat for 10 minutes.
• Season with some salt and pepper, to taste, as they sweat down.
• Stir as they sweat, scrapping the bottom of the pan too.
• Stir the 3 tablespoons of flour into the soured cream to form a thick paste and set aside.
• After 10 minutes add the chicken stock and paprika(see note below) and stir to combine.
• Add the chicken and bring up to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to gently simmering and cover and cook for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes test the temperature of the chicken, it should reach at least 91C/195F to ensure it is cooked through.
• Place the dry ingredients for the spaetzle into a large bowl.
• Beat the eggs and milk together and add them into the dry ingredients and whisk until you have a thick, smooth batter, then set aside.
• Place a large saucepan of salted water onto the stove and bring to a boil, ready to cook the spaetzle.I used a pan with 4 litres(16 cups) of water.
• When the chicken is cooked spoon some of the liquid into the soured cream mixture and stir around, then add a little more and stir again.
• Pour that mixture into the chicken and stir to combine.
• Place on the heat again and simmer until the sauce thickens.
• When the sauce is thickened to your liking cook the spaetzle.
• Wet a cheese grater, or similar device with holes, with water.
• Spoon some of the spaeztle mixture onto the grater and use a spatula to push it through the holes, into the boiling water. Repeat with more.
• When the spaetzle starts to float cook for about a minute then spoon it out into a bowl and continue with the remainder until all the cooked.
• Add the parsley to the chicken paprikash and stir around.
• Serve the chicken paprikash with with spaetzle and enjoy.

Notes

• Don’t be tempted to add the paprika into the frying onions etc as it is likely to burn. Add it with the chicken stock.