Chicken Paprikash Recipe For The Win

Amazing flavor with nice hints of paprika, this chicken paprikash will warm your soul.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken or 4 thighs

1 red bell pepper, medium dice

3 whole tomatoes, medium dice

1 yellow onion, small dice

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 c chicken stock

3 tbsp lard or avocado oil

1/4 c heavy cream

1/4 c cream cheese

1 tbsp ap flour

1 tbsp butter, unsalted

2 tbsp sweet paprika (check out my homemade recipe)

1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Kosher salt (went with 1% weight of the chicken, procedure below)

1 tsp ground caraway

Ingredients for the nokedli :

1 whole egg

1 c flour

1/2 c water

1/2 tsp  fine sea salt

2 tsp smoked paprika

Tools needed:

Cutting board

Sharp knife

Measuring cups and spoons

Large saute pan with lid

Tongs

Small stock pot

Pairing knife

Zip top bag

Ladle

Scissors

Large slotted Spoon

Tongs

Baking sheet

Mixing bowl x 2

Kitchen scale (optional)

Wire whisk

How to make it:

First off, I like to buy whole chicken since they’re a little cheaper and I use the bones/carcass for making stock. Break the chicken down into the 2 breast and 2 thighs with legs attached.

The following is an optional step, but worth it if you own a kitchen scale.

I like to weigh the broken down chicken pieces all together on my kitchen scale in grams. Once I get that weight, it gets calculated by 1%. That will be the amount of salt needed for the chicken. I like this method because you end up with the perfect amount of salt every time. Once you weigh out the amount of salt needed, evenly disperse it over all of the chicken pieces and let it sit covered in the refrigerator for 8 -12 hours prior to cooking.

After the 8-12 hours with the chicken sitting with the salt, remove it from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking. Preheat your pan over medium high for about 1 minute. Pat the chicken dry if needed and sear in a large saute pan starting with the lard going in the pan. Carefully place the chicken into the pan away from you to avoid splashing yourself with hot lard. Cook over medium high heat for around 4 minutes per side. You’re looking for a nice golden brown color on the chicken. The aim is to get color on the chicken, not to fully cook it at this time.

Once the chicken is browned on both sides, remove from the pan and let rest on a plate while the rest of the ingredients get cooked.

Reduce the heat on the pan to medium low and add the diced onion. Once the onion piecess hit the pan, season them with a pinch of salt. The salt will help bring out the sweetness. Sweat for about 3 minutes to get them translucent and slightly caramelize. Add the cut up bell pepper and minced garlic. Cook the peppers with the onion for another 3 minutes before adding the tomatoes stirring frequently to avoid burning the garlic. Add the paprika with the tomatoes, stir frequently making sure to not burn the paprika and cook for about 1 minute. Make a well in the middle of the pan and melt in the butter. Add the flour and mix into the melted butter (roux) and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently.

Add the chicken stock to the pan 1/3 of the amount at a time. Carefully stir in the chicken stock with the roux before adding more. I do this to avoid any clumps of roux forming. Once the stock is fully added, season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the pan, crank the heat to medium high again to bring the liquid to a simmer. Once it comes to a simmer, reduce the heat again to medium low and place a lid on the pan. Cook the chicken for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 F. Once cooked, remove the chicken and place on a plate with a cover to keep warm while the sauce gets finished.

Place your sour cream into a small mixing bowl and use your ladle to get small amounts of the cooking liquid into the bowl one ladle full at a time stirring in the liquid fully before adding another ladle (this is called tempering). The point of this is to keep the sour cream from curdling. Once you use a little less than half the liquid from the pan, add the sour cream mixture to the pan and stir in with the cream. Give the sauce a taste and adjust seasoning as needed with some salt and pepper.

Tempering is a technique used to keep the sour cream from curdling.

Adding the tempered sour cream to the pan.

Now, let’s make the nokedli.

First, get a small stock pot full of water on high heat to bring to a boil. This can be done during the last 10 minutes of the chicken is cooking

If you don’t have a piping bag, using a zip top bag also works.

Make the batter in a small mixing bowl and add to a piping bag or zip top bag. Take note that the batter is about the consistency of a thick pancake batter. If you’re using a zip top bag, gently get the air out of the bag and zip it closed. Work the batter to one of the bottom corners of the bag and cut off just the end of it with your scissors.

Use a sharp pairing knife to cut off the batter as it is squeezed from the bag.

Once the water is boiling, give it a pinch of salt and light squeeze the batter into the water using a paring knife to cut off the batter in about 1 inch lengths as it comes out of the bag. Drop around 10 dumplings into the water and make sure they don’t get stuck to the bottom of pot by carefully stirring them with a spoon. These cook quickly in under 45 seconds in boiling water, they float when done. Once they float, remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon and place on your serving plates making sure to drain off excess water. I typically go with 10 dumplings per plate depending on size.

Place the cooked chicken on your plates according to your serving size and top with your sauce from the pan.

Enjoy!

Logan