Traditional Hungarian Paprikash Recipes

Steps:

• Place a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp, about 4 minutes. Add onion and cook until soft and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Add chicken and tomatoes. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in paprika. Pour in 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup water and season with salt. Cover and simmer over low heat for 25 minutes. Remove lid and cook an additional 5 minutes.
• Transfer chicken to a plate and keep warm. Mix sour cream and 1 teaspoon cold water together in a small bowl. Add mixture to the pot and stir until gravy is evenly colored and smooth. Return chicken to the pot, cover and simmer on low for another 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, stir flour and salt together in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix egg and water together. Gradually add flour mixture and stir together until dumpling batter is very thick and mixture breaks from a spoon.
• Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add 2 teaspoons salt.
• Drop 1/2 teaspoons of dumpling batter into the boiling water. Dumplings will rise to the surface in about 1 minute; boil for 5 minutes more. Use a slotted spoon to transfer dumplings to a bowl. Repeat steps until batter is used up and all dumplings are cooked. Mix 1 teaspoon of butter with cooked dumplings. Add dumplings to chicken mixture in the pot and allow to heat through.

Steps:

• 1. If you have a pressure cooker, use it. If you dont, a regular big old pot will work just as well.
• 2. Place the oil and chopped onion in a big pot. Cook over medium/high heat until translucent. (You don't want them brown, just tender.) Take off heat. Add the paprika. Mix it well.
• 3. Put chicken parts in the pot and brown slightly with the onion/paprika mixture. (Do it in batches if you have to and add additional oil in small amounts if needed.) NOTE: I buy a whole chicken and cut it up myself. Make sure the chicken pieces you use are whole with the skin intact. It adds to the flavor.
• 4. Add water to almost cover chicken. Bring to a boil, and add chicken bullion cubes (a good rule is don't cube for every one cup of water... just eyeball it). Also, add the Lawry's seasoning salt (if available). Not necessary, but to me, is the secret ingredient. Grandma didn't tell us about that until we saw her add it one day! ;) Cover and simmer for 25 minutes with a regular pot, or about 15-20 minutes with a pressure cooker.
• 5. While the chicken is simmering, mix the sour cream, water, and flour together with a hand mixer or a Kitchen-Aid mixer. Whip it very smooth and set aside.
• 6. When the chicken is done, remove the chicken pieces to a colander to cool. Slowly add the sour cream mixture, a little bit at a time to the broth, stirring constantly to incorporate into the broth. OPTIONAL: You can de-bone the chicken or leave the pieces intact. I spoil everyone by skinning and de-boning it and adding it back to the sauce. Grandma always served the chicken pieces separate on a dish and whole. It is up to you how you like it. I always just went for the sauce over dumplings when I was a kid! ;)
• 7. FOR THE DUMPLINGS: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a mixer combine eggs, water, and flour and salt. Mix together to form a soupy dough. When water is boiling, scrape the dough into the water a spoonful at a time. This is easier if you dip the spoon onto the boiling water so the dough will not stick to the spoon. After you scrape the dough into the boiling water, they should cook for about 7 minutes. When they rise to the surface, they are done. Drain and rinse. It makes a lot of dumplings! But that is ok, they will be gone in no time!
• 8. Serve up a big helping of dumplings and pour sauce over them. Serve with the whole chicken pieces, or if you de-bone it, it will be placed in the sauce.
• 9. One of my favorite childhood memories is triggered when I make this recipe. All of my senses come alive... truly a wonderful comforting food!

Steps:

• Pat the beef dry, then salt and pepper before placing in the pot.
• Brown the meat on all sides for a few minutes in the pot with oil and butter.
• Transfer beef to a bowl.
• Add onions, garlic and more butter to pot. Sautee until tender, then transfer onion/garlic to a bowl.
• Add can of chopped tomatoes and mustard to pot, stirring and scraping all the bits off bottom of pot.
• Add in the onions and stir until combined with sauce, about 2 minutes.
• Empty the two cups of beef broth into pot, along with the Red Peppers. Stir until slightly softened.
• Add beef, and stir in hot sauce to taste. Remember the hot sauce gains strength as it cooks, so keep testing periodically to get the level heat you want, adding a little at a time.
• Add orange juice and stir over low heat for a few minutes, again testing the level of heat with the hot sauce. Leave uncovered while stirring.
• Once all is to a good boil, cover, reduce heat, and let simmer for one hour. You can even turn it off and let sit for a few hours, to have ready for a meal hours later.
• Now bring the pot to a boil, and add the sour cream. Sitr until blended. Sauce should have a rich orange color, and a creamy, not thick texture. If too thick, add more orange juice.
• Update the level "heat" with more hot sauce, if desired.
• Serve over white rice or thick egg noodles. Enjoy!

Steps:

• Saute chopped up onion in the oil. Pull it off from the heat.
• Add the paprika (both kind) to the sautéed onion. (If you leave it on the heat while you do this, the paprika will burn) Mix it until the paprika dissolved.
• Add chicken. Mix it together with the onion-paprika paste, until all the pieces are covered with the paste. Turn your heat up high, brown the meat, while you constantly mixing it. While you doing it, be careful not to burn the paprika paste!
• When all pieces look white all around, turn down the heat to low, add salt, cover and cook. During your low heat cooking the juices of the chicken will come out, so your dish will cook in its own juices. If you pick dry meat (breast) you have to add some liquid(chicken broth).
• After 10 minutes add pepper piece to the food. Cook for another 10-15 minutes. Check for tenderness.
• Before serving, remove skin. Serve with pasta, or baked potato. Top the dish with a tablespoon of sour cream.
• Hungarians serve it with some pickled items on the side, such as cucumber, or pickled pepper.
• Enjoy.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir until tender. Sprinkle chicken with paprika, salt and pepper; place in an ungreased roasting pan. Spoon onion mixture over chicken. Add water. Bake, covered, 1-1/2 hours or until chicken juices run clear., Remove chicken and keep warm. Pour drippings and loosened browned bits from roasting pan into a saucepan. Skim fat. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and cold water until smooth. Stir into pan juices with onion. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream. Serve with chicken.