A few years ago while on my way to Greece for my summer vacation, I stopped for a few days in Budapest, Hungary.
Budapest is really two cities: Buda sits on the hilly western bank of the Danube River and Pest to the east. Combined the two cities are known as Budapest.
Hungary is known for it's rich history of striving to be independant, Hungarians are great at business, some of the prettiest women I've seen were in Budapest and, they also boast of a rich cuisine that is washed down with their excellent wines.
Hungarian cuisine is dominated by the use of paprika which is made by drying and grinding red peppers into a fine powder. Paprika can be found sweet, hot or smoked and it's used to season soups, stews and sausages.
Today, I went with a more lean approach to Chicken Paprikash by using boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Although the meat was tender, it still had a dry texture and I'll use boneless, skinless chicken thighs for the next time Paprikash is summoned to the table.
Chicken Paprikash is remarkably easy, a one skillet dish (along with some egg noodles) and the flavour scale is quite high considering how easy this is. Make sure you add the sour cream mixture at the end...it'll provide your Paprikash with the right thickness and stick well to the noodles.
Chicken Paprikash
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup all purpose flour
salt and pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 large onion, sliced
1 large green bell pepper, sliced
1 bay leaf
1/4 dry white wine
1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
2 cups of chicken stock
1 pint of roasted cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 scallion, sliced
- Wash and pat-dry your chicken. Season with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour.
- Add the olive oil to a large skillet and brown the chicken breasts under medium heat or 2 1/2 minutes a side. Brown in batches and reserve the chicken.
- In the same skillet, add some more oil and toss in the onions, green peppers and garlic and bay leaf and saute for about 5 minutes for the vegetables to soften.
- Add the wine and deglaze the brown bits from the pan. Now add the paprika, your chicken stock and cherry tomatoes and bring to a boil.
- Cut your chicken breasts into fork sized strips. Add your chicken into the skillet, stir in and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes. Cook uncovered for another 10 minutes for the sauce to thicken. Take off the heat and reserve.
- In a cup, mix the sour cream with the corn starch. While stirring, mix in the sour cream mixture into the Paprikash.
- Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped scallions. Serve on a bed of egg noodles.
