Ingredients
- This chicken dish is a Hungarian classic. Serve it with Nokledi or Spaetzle, a home-made flour dumpling or just plain boiled potatoes. You can buy a special tool for making Nokledi but in India I used the large setting of a brass chakli and sev maker. You can also use a sieve with large holes and just pass the batter through it.
- Serves 4 (2 pieces per person)
- Chicken - 8 thighs with bone and skin washed and completely drained and patted dry with paper towels
- 1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 250 grams white or red onions finely sliced into rounds
- 2 red bell peppers finely sliced (optional)
- 3 tablespoons finely minced garlic
- 4 tomatoes finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 4 tablespoons Paprika or to taste
- 1 cup Chicken stock
- salt to taste
- 3 tablespoons Sour cream or strained yogurt 1 tablespoon
- 1 tablespoon Maida or all purpose flour
- For the Spaetzle
- 3 eggs whisked
- 2 cups maida or all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup water
Instructions
- Sprinkle the chicken evenly with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper each.
- Heat a large heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat and add the butter and olive oil.
- When its melted lay down all the pieces of chicken and deeply brown the skin evenly on all sides. This should take 7-8 minutes.
- Lift the chicken out of the pan onto a plate using tongs.
- Add the onions to the fat remaining in the cooking pan and cook until soft but not brown.
- Add bell peppers. Saute until tender and falling apart.
- Add garlic and saute 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and tomato paste and cook another 3-4 minutes.
- Add the paprika and continue to cook until tomatoes are pulpy. Stir from time to time to prevent burning.
- Return the chicken to the pan and toss to coat all the pieces.
- Lower flame and stir in the chicken stock.
- Cook on a slow flame until chicken is done.
- Taste for salt.
- FOR THE SPAETZLE
- Set a large pot of water with 1/2 teaspoon salt to boil on a high flame.
- Combine all the ingredients for the spaetzle in a mixing bowl and stir well. The batter should be thicker than a pancake batter.
- Set sev or chakli maker with the largest perforated disc.
- Pour batter into the chakli maker.
- When the water is boiling hold the sev maker or sieve over the pot and turn the handle in circular motions to pass the dough through the perforations into the boiling water. Work fast and get all the batter in the sev maker out in one go.
- This cooks for less than 30 seconds so using a perforated ladle quickly spoon out the cooked noodles (they will resemble little nuggets) into a bowl. If you plan on using them later dunk them in cold water.
- Repeat with remaining batter.
- If you are using a sieve press the batter through it using a large round spoon.
- To serve ladle a portion of the hot Chicken Paprikash over the dumplings, noodles or potatoes. top with a generous dollop of sour cream or unsweetened, fresh strained yogurt.
© 2023 All content copyright: Tara Deshpande