Chicken Paprikash with Nokedli and Cucumber Salad

Paprikás csirke [paw-pree-kahsh chir-keh] is as Hungarian as food gets, and it tastes like my childhood. If you ever go to Hungary, order this first. It is also a political dish. For a long time paprika was peasant food, and noble kitchens would not touch it. Then, in the 19th century, when Hungarians wanted to set themselves apart from the Habsburgs and from German cooking, paprika dishes became a statement of who they were. The first known recipe for paprikás csirke was printed in 1830. Traditionally the sour cream is stirred into the pot at the end. I like to serve it on the side.

In my hometown the dumplings were always nokedli [noh-ked-lee], a word Hungarian borrowed from the German Nockerl. Elsewhere in Hungary they are galuska. In Austria and Germany they are Spätzle, in Switzerland Chnöpfli, and Slovakia has its own halušky. Every region makes them a little differently. If you want to skip the cucumber salad, serve pickles instead. I like pickled pearl onions and pickled cucumbers or cornichons, the small ones.

Ingredients

The Cucumber Salad

• 3 long cucumbers
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 350g (1½ cups) sour cream, around 20% fat
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 6 Tbsp 20% vinegar, or the same amount of regular 5% vinegar for a milder salad

The Paprikás

• 3 Tbsp duck fat or 4 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2.25kg bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 450g (about 3 medium) onions
• 8 garlic cloves
• 250g (about 2 medium) tomatoes
• 2 Hungarian white peppers
• approx. 1.9L (8 cups) chicken stock
• 3 Tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika powder

The Nokedli

• 750g (6 cups) plain flour
• 3 large eggs
• 570ml (2⅓ cups) water
• 1 tsp salt, plus a pinch for the cooking water
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

To serve

• 400g (1⅔ cups) sour cream
• Hungarian sweet paprika powder, for sprinkling
• Fresh parsley
• Pickled pearl onions and pickled cucumbers or cornichons, if you skip the salad

Equipment

• Mandoline
• Large heavy pot with a lid, at least 5L
• Large pot for the nokedli
• Nokedli maker (spätzle maker), or a coarse grater or colander with holes about 6mm (¼ inch) wide
• Slotted spoon

The Simple Process

1. Prep: Peel the cucumbers and all the garlic, keeping the salad garlic separate from the stew garlic. Peel the onions and chop them finely. Chop the tomatoes finely. Remove the tops from the peppers, deseed them completely, and chop them finely. Season the chicken on all sides with the 2 tsp salt and the pepper.
2. The Cucumbers: Slice the cucumbers very thinly on the mandoline, and use the hand guard, because a mandoline cuts fingers as easily as cucumbers. Put the slices in a bowl, mix in the salt and leave them for 10 minutes. They will give off a lot of water. Start the chicken while they sit.
3. Brown: Melt the duck fat in the large pot over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken on all sides until golden, in batches so the pieces are not crowded. This takes about 10 minutes. The chicken is not cooked through yet. Take it out and set it aside on a plate.
4. The Base: Turn the heat to medium and fry the onions in the same fat until translucent, about 8 minutes. Press in the stew garlic for the last minute so it does not burn. Add the tomatoes and peppers, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until everything collapses into a soft, thick base. Finish the salad while this cooks.
5. The Salad: Press the salad garlic into a large bowl and stir in the sour cream, sugar and vinegar. Squeeze the cucumbers hard with your hands, a handful at a time, pour the liquid away, and add them to the dressing. Mix well and taste. Add more vinegar, sugar or salt until it tastes right to you, then chill for at least an hour.
6. Paprika: Back to the pot. Pour in 350ml (1½ cups) of the stock and turn the heat down to low. Stir in the paprika. Paprika only ever goes into liquid, never into hot fat, or it turns bitter. Keep the heat low here, because the base is thick and burns easily on the bottom of the pot.
7. Simmer: Put the chicken back in the pot and add another 700ml (3 cups) of stock. Cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
8. Slow Cook: Add the remaining 850ml (3½ cups) of stock, cover again and cook on low for 40 minutes to 1 hour. It is ready when the meat falls away from the bone at a touch and the sauce around it has visibly thickened. Taste, and add salt if it needs it.
9. The Nokedli: While the paprikás slow cooks, bring a large pot of water with a pinch of salt to a boil. Only once it is boiling, put the flour, eggs, water and salt in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth, soft and thick enough to drop slowly off the spoon. Do not mix it earlier. If it sits, it turns stretchy and takes far longer to push through.
10. Cook the Nokedli: Hold the nokedli maker over the boiling water and push through one portion of batter. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. They are ready when they float to the top. Lift them out with the slotted spoon into a bowl and toss with a little of the oil so they do not stick together. Repeat until the batter is used up.
11. Serve: Put a pile of nokedli on each plate, spoon the paprikás over the top, and add a spoonful of cucumber salad beside it. Dust the salad with a little paprika powder and scatter chopped parsley over everything. Put the sour cream on the table so everyone can add their own. If you skipped the salad, put out pickled pearl onions and pickled cucumbers or cornichons instead.

Pro Tip: If you cannot face making nokedli, cook pasta instead. My mum used fusilli. Penne works too. Anything with plenty of surface for the sauce to cling to.