Chicken Paprikash

I don't have much in the way of "family recipes". My grandfather came through Ellis Island as a young child, and this was a recipe that his mom used. All his brothers make the exact same dish, which made connecting with strange family from "back east" a little easier for the Texas arm of the family established by my grandfather.

We made this yesterday. Its a bit labor intensive for an after dinner meal....but my mom (who lives with us) was craving some comfort food. So i put in the time last night to turn out an oustanding batch of Chicken Paprikash

Chicken

I use boneless/skinless thighs. But you can use whatever you like. Boneless/skinless breasts aren't the right choice for this, however. But if you have some bone in chicken, itll make it that much better.

- in a large pot bring about 10 cups of water to a boil
- salt the water with about 3 tbl salt
- add in 3 tbl paprika (i used a smoked paprika, but regular old McCormack's works, too)
- add in several stalks of celery and a chopped onion
- add in the chicken, simmering until done
- remove the chicken from the broth, and set aside.
- discard the celery and onion

Dumplings

If you make chicken and dumplings, you should scrap your current dumpling recipe and use this one instead. Much more "bite" to it. I used 6 eggs in my dish last night, but the ratio is generally 2.5 cups of flour for every 2 eggs used.

6 eggs
8 cups flour
1/2c fresh chopped parsely
4 minced cloves garlic
3 tbl salt
3 tsp baking powder

Mix all the ingredients together. It takes a bit of work, as it gets very stiff and sticky. Just work it. Use your bare hands towards the end if need be (just dust your hands with flour first). Once the dough is made, drop spoonful size chunks into the chicken broth. Maybe 10 at a time. After you get them all dropped in each batch, you will want to gently stir the broth to release the dumplings from the bottom (they will stick upon hitting the bottom of the pan). The dumplings will float. Let them simmer for about 5 minutes after this, then remove from the water and set aside while you finish making the rest

Final Preparation

Once all the dumplings are removed:

- Add in 2 pints sour cream and whisk until smooth
- Add in 2 more tablespoons paprika, until it starts to have a strong, orange color
- Add in the chicken pieces
- Mix 1 cup flour into 2 cups milk
- Mix into the broth mixture and return to a simmer to thicken
- Return the dumplings to the mix and simmer for about 5 minutes to bring it all together

The end result: a fairly thick, orange/red, creamy broth full of flavor and filled with tasty chicken and wonderful "al dente" dumplings.

I had mine 2 bowls full with a bit of bread and a Fat Tire beer

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Coincidence,,,,I am having my daughter over for dinner Monday, and this is the dish I am making for her!

Your recipe is a tad different than the one I use, but I am going to do it your way. It just makes more sense!

This dish is comfort food heaven for me!

I hope people give it a chance, because it is a delicious dish!

Sounds pretty good. By adding the paprika and the onions you are preserving some of the NAC in the meat. By adding the celery you are helping to control the negative effects associated with consuming chicken. It contains two chemicals that are a sort of medicine and cancel a little of the doping effect of the beta blockers in the meat.

Probably tastes pretty good. I make a similar thing, but I use less nitrogen compounds....only about seven drops of tabasco or one hot dried chili pepper. I didn't plant any hot chili peppers this year....bummer.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

I think I love you! This sounds amazing!

It is bookmarked in my Food/Recipe folder and shall be made in the coming weeks!

a reply to: rickymouse

LOL

i think we have 2 different goals. you use food like an alchemist of old. i like to dabble in culinary arts.

Which brings me to ask you (as I do often).....when are you going to author a thread to share some of your alchemical knowledge?

A twist:

my grand dad used the same dumplings to make a bbq rib dish. Not very Texan in execution, it was still not too bad. Better than I expect dumplings and bbq to be.

He braised beef ribs, then baked them until tender (basically, pan fry until golden on the outside, then bake at 300 for an hour and a half, with the last half of the time uncovered). Then you pour off the beef drippings into a gravy separator to get the fats out. Mix the remaining drippings in with the bbq sauce, cut the ribs into single rib portions, and put it all back into a stock pot, with the dumplings, to bring it together.

I usually use sweet bbq sauce, but not on this dish. On this dish i like a more traditional and less sweet sauce. And, of course, add in a couple tbl paprika. Grandfather always said paprika made a regular meal hearty enough to stick to your ribs.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

That sounds absolutely divine, I'm going to try that. I ate something very similar in Budapest, back in the good old days when you could whizz about all over Europe on EasyJet for £20 and 1/2 inch of leg room.

The leaves are definitely changing colour here, autumn's on it's way and this meal sounds just perfect for warming up a freezing night.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: rickymouse

LOL

i think we have 2 different goals. you use food like an alchemist of old. i like to dabble in culinary arts.

Which brings me to ask you (as I do often).....when are you going to author a thread to share some of your alchemical knowledge?

Where would I start? I should start writing for Organized Wisdom too. I keep thinking, I have more to learn and I would like to get all my bases covered before I start this. I had a doctor tell me I should write a book. He also told me I should go take a test for a professorship in the field when I told him that without credentials I could just write a fiction.

I also hate being distracted by providing evidence, sometimes the evidence is hard to refind. Stuff disappears on the net, either buried or taken off by someone or said to have expired. The thing I find most interesting is that information is often taken down when a new drug is released based on that information. I would have to print out some of the stuff I find because it disappears.

I remember when the nutrition database had organic foods and commercial foods seperated. They had to get rid of the organic so instead of just getting rid of it they were told to blend the nutrition to make the commercial foods look better and then this would make organic food not look so much better as the blended data. This procedure was listed on their site, so that means the people working there knew and probably did not agree with what happened.

a reply to: rickymouse

Well, the beauty is that you can always test your theories.

As a person who deals with a difficult to treat but somewhat minor autoimmune issue, I completely get the impact of body chemistry and health.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: rickymouse

Well, the beauty is that you can always test your theories.

As a person who deals with a difficult to treat but somewhat minor autoimmune issue, I completely get the impact of body chemistry and health.

I have autoimmune issues, so it is hard to evaluate how these would effect people without these issues. I am more interested in helping my own kind anyway, I would rather find ways to help those with autoimmune issues avoid ever having problems than to help them after the problems appear. Diet is the perfect way, looking at food chemistry as it effects us. Finding real triggers and finding what complications that avoiding the trigger foods can cause and a substitute to consume instead. If you spread out your consumption of a food class to about four days apart, your body will not go autoimmune on you. It gets a chance to rest in between the metabolic intolerance and then it doesn't escalate. I have years of testing and evaluating to go yet before I am ready.

Most Autoimmune diseases are not diseases at all, they are an inconvenience that we have to learn to live with. A very strong immune system that we overload with the wrong foods.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

HOw much chicken does this call for?
10 cups is a lot of liquid...and there are only the two of us....and neither of us are wild about leftovers.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Just 2 of you and you aren't into leftovers?

Halve the recipe! Freeze what you have left.

My experience with this recipe is 2 lbs. of chicken. But it can be from 1 to 3 lbs. depending.......

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

you can use much less liquid if you like. By the time I finish, it has reduced by about 3 cups.

I cook for leftovers. I have mentioned before that my mother lives with us. So i cook a couple of big meals each week that she can have for lunch with a visitor (my uncle, sister, etc).

Today I made a much larger batch of chili than I should have. I will probably freeze it, and thaw it out in a month or so for a "rainy day" meal.

RE: this particular meal...leftover is far better. Kind of like a good roast beef and potato or a stew. It gets better overnight.

Thanks, BFFT and seeker
I am not a creative cook....so I need specific directions

I'm big on having dumplings with chicken and your recipe sounds great. I, also, am big on having left overs. I honestly think that many times a dish is even better the second serving as a left over. So I am looking forward to giving your dish a try. Thank you for sharing.

Ever thought of using cayenne instead of paprika? Totally different flavor.

a reply to: intrepid

I have a very large shaker of cayenne powder. I typically use it instead of black pepper. The amount of paprika you use....if you did that with cayenne it might stop your heart. At the very least you would spend a week sitting on one of those inflatable donuts.

Hungarian style paprika isn't spicy. And the flavor is very mild. But it makes for a heartiness in food. It is the star of German food for me. The thing is, there is a very thin line between "just right" and "ruined"

I do have some of the more spicy variety paprika (smoked and regular). I use it somewhat frequently.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Yup, it doesn't take much. I LOVE the taste though. Like curry. When using those puppies though it's like the 1/4 teaspoon. 1/8 teaspoon. Or it's easily ruined as you said.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Thanks for posting! I am going to make this.