Traveling around Hungary and tasting national dishes in local restaurants, you are sure to get acquainted with a delicious, hearty dish called paprikash. If you are not going to Hungary yet, make paprikash at home, for family and friends. This white meat dish is great for both lunch and dinner.
Paprikash is, perhaps, not even a specific dish, but a cooking technology. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of paprikash recipes (after all, every chef can add something of his own to a free recipe). But some rules must always be followed. Here's what paprikash makes paprikash:
- white meat to your taste (the main thing is lean, tender) - it can be chicken, veal, lamb, fish paprikash is also known;
- cream or sour cream, in which this meat will be stewed;
- paprika is an extremely popular spice among Hungarians, which gave the name to this dish; without paprika, paprikash, of course, is unthinkable.
In Hungary, chefs say this about the main principle of making paprikash: "No fatty meat, no fatty." This means that beef, pork, lamb are not suitable for paprikash. They do not take a duck or a goose for this dish.
Since paprikash allows a culinary specialist a lot of liberties, it will not be difficult to find ingredients for him. In addition, you may need foods such as onions, red bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil - these are included in many paprikash recipes.
Outside Hungary, paprikash can be made from both pork and beef. This is not a classic Hungarian paprikash, but if you want to … Why not experiment?
A classic example of this dish is the chicken paprikash recipe. It will require:
- chicken (preferably fillet) - 1 kg;
- sour cream (or heavy cream) - 250 g;
- onions - 2 pcs.;
- Bulgarian pepper - 3 pcs.;
- garlic - 5 cloves;
- chicken broth - 1 tbsp.;
- olive oil - 3 tbsp. l.;
- ground paprika - 3 tbsp. l.;
- flour - 1 tbsp. l.
- red and black pepper - generously;
- salt to taste.
Before broilers flooded the shelves of stores, adult chickens were taken for chicken paprikash - for a more expressive taste. But now in Hungary, they usually take the breast or legs of a regular broiler chicken.
First you need to finely chop the chicken fillet and fry it, preferably in a deep saucepan. Season with salt and pepper immediately.
After setting aside the meat, fry the diced onion in the same oil (already with chicken fat). Add the bell peppers, chopped into strips, to the saucepan. When the vegetables are browned, add the garlic and paprika directly to the oil.
Pour in the chicken broth, bring to a boil (if the saucepan is shallow, move the dish to a saucepan or cauldron). Add chicken and reduce heat. Cook until chicken starts to separate from the bones.
Mix sour cream with flour (so that there are no lumps) and pour into the paprikash. After that, simmer the dish for another 5-10 minutes. If necessary, add salt and pepper.
This is a variant of chicken paprikash without tomatoes. But when frying onions and bell peppers, you can easily add 3-4 chopped tomatoes. It will turn out very tasty. You can also replace chicken broth with a glass of tomato juice.
With what to serve paprikash? In Hungary, you will be offered this dish with a side dish of green salad and tarhoni (the so-called national pasta). When preparing paprikash at home, it is quite possible to take any pasta that can be found in the closet. Also, chicken paprikash is often served with dumplings.
