Everyone makes it a little bit differently, but it is ultimately a very simple dish and can be tweaked here and there to suit individual tastes. Here's how we Hungaricans make it:
Start with a very simple group of ingredients. You will need:
1 plump whole chicken
2 large yellow onions
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 HEAPING tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika (or more)
2 tablespoons of flour
2 cups water or chicken stock
Salt
Pepper
Rice, egg noodles or spaetzle
Shall we begin?
 |
| You should always add salt an pepper in 'layers' while you are cooking. S & P each 'stage' and your meal will be well-seasoned. Anyway, I digress.... |
 |
| It is a bit cheaper to buy a whole chicken and to quarter it yourself. It's not too hard. I will post a video someday of how to do it simply. |
 |
| ...or more. |
 |
| Just toss the flour in dry and stir it in. |
 |
| Chicken stock makes the sauce all the richer, but water works just fine and it's what I use on the most part. |
 |
| By the time you add the water, the bottom of the pot will be crusted in a flavourful 'sediment'. Adding liquid will deglaze it and add the distintive flavour to the sauce (much like the Borg assimilating a species). |
Tend to fussy baby
 |
| My mom always left it in, and it's not tragic if you do, but if you are trying to minimize calories, taking it out is a good idea. It will however take some of your flavour. |
 |
| I had to take from 2 containers. |
 |
| This thickens the sauce. |
Some people remove the skin and debone the chicken, shredding the meat into the sauce. I don't do that very often. I also have a brother who adds green pepper to the sauce, sliced mushrooms can also be good. I serve it pretty often over rice, but egg noodles work and the real dish in Hungary is often served over spaetzle. I like rice because it really sorbs up the sauce, which I would drink from the pot if I could get away with it.
Enjoy!
4 comments:
This is one of my favorite foods. I cut the chicken into 8 pieces (easier to manage in the pot and on the plate) and I tend to use more paprika, but that's a matter of taste.
I love this blog! Not sure how I got here but it is such a nice, refreshing change of pace from all the bad news you see in the world. And not one word of football players and their non-existent girlfriend's deaths! :)
My Hungarian grandmother added small dumpling/gnocchi like things she called reve ( spelling?). Your recipe brings it all back!, I will have to. I'll have to make it soon. My dad was also Belgium so I got a kick out of your comments with this post. Keep at it. It's great to see small countries' culture getting such lovely press.
Yum, Just made a version of this. My internet went out so I had to recreate by memory, so it has all your ingredients just everything done in a different order! I will let you know how it turns out!
Post a Comment