Lately I’ve been watching a lot of the excellent YouTube channel, Bingeing with Babish. He’s a chef located out of New York who is untrained, meaning in this case that he hasn’t officially gone to culinary school although he’s an excellent chef. He meticulously recreates recipes from pop culture moments. In this case he is recreating the Chicken Paprikash recipe made by Vision in Captain America: Civil War. This recipe really piqued my interest since its was similar to a recipe I had just made that was extremely disappointing, a Coq au Vin. It just didn’t have enough flavor for me. But the Paprikash promised to be different. It was packed full of delicious chicken, flavorful veggies, and one of my favorite spices, Hungarian Paprika. A spice so loved in Hungary that even though it’s a new world crop, the Hungarian name for it is what is known worldwide. It had a built in dumpling recipe that I had to try.
1 1/2 lbs Chicken (Babish uses a whole chicken which is great but I prefer just thighs)
Small amount of vegetable oil
1 plus extra all-purpose flour
1 large onion
2 Anaheim peppers, or any large mild flavorful pepper
3 Roma tomatoes
3 Tbs Hungarian Paprika (It REALLY needs to be Hungarian, not smoked or Spanish)
2 cups chicken broth
4 eggs
2 Tbs Sour Cream
Salt and Pepper
Start some water boiling. Cut up your chicken and veg. lightly flour chicken pieces and fry them in the oil on medium high in a heavy bottomed skillet to get a lightly crispy skin. This also help thicken the sauce later and while Babish doesn’t flour them I prefer to. Remove chicken from pan and set aside. Next add the onions to the chicken fat pan and cook until translucent. Add tomatoes and peppers and cook until limp. Then reduce heat to medium and add paprika, careful this stuff can burn. Cook until fragrant which should be a matter of seconds. Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer and then add chicken and any accumulated juices, wouldn’t want that to go to waste. Simmer for 30 minutes. Make sure to check internal temperature of the chicken.
Now, right there you are done with the base of the Paprikash and could serve it with any starch. But if you want the authentic Hungarian dish you need Hungarian dumplings. Mix eggs, salt and pepper, and sour cream in a measuring cup and slowly adding remaining flour. You don’t want a precise amount, it needs to have a thickness like thick pancake batter. Drop the dumpling mix one tsp at a time into boiling water. These will be done within five minutes and can be used for a lot more than just this recipe.
Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon. Spoon sauce and chicken over them and serve with sour cream and a dash of Paprika. This recipe keeps really well and only tastes better with time.
