So, let's get started.....
You will need the following:
- Chicken. The recipe as written called for 4 pounds of chicken. That's a lot of chicken. I'm only cooking for 2 1/2, so the first time I made this I used 2 bone-in, skin-on thigh/drumsticks. It was greasy as hell (but the skin was delicious). This time, I just used 2 skinless, boneless breasts. That worked just fine and cut down on the grease factor.
- A white onion
- Mushrooms, sliced.
- Minced garlic.
- Butter
- Paprika (Note: I used regular paprika. I have been told that smoked paprika is spicier, but I haven't tried it yet.)
- Salt & pepper
- Sour cream
- 2 cups flour
- 1 egg
- water
- Salt & pepper
So, let's make some Paprikash!
1. Cook your onion, mushrooms, and garlic in your butter. I used about 4 tbsp of butter, but that may have been a bit much.
2. Once your onions and mushrooms have softened a bit, add water to your pot. You need a fair amount of water to make your dumplings (more on this later). I filled it up about 2/3 full, but that was WAY too much. I should have only done 1/2 way or so. However, I think if you are using more chicken, then use more water. Make sense? Okay, on with the show...
3. Put your chicken in the pot. I left the breasts intact for the initial cooking.
4. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika. You will need a LOT more paprika that you think you need, especially if you're using a lot of water.
5. Heat everything to boiling, lower the heat, cover the pot and let it rapidly simmer for an hour. Is 'rapidly simmer' a term? You want it on the verge of boiling. Enough so that it reduces, but not so much that it burns or sticks.
6. While that is cooking for an hour, go veg in front of the T.V. Law & Order is probably on.
7. After an hour, it's time to make the dumplings......
8. Mix 2 cups of flour, an egg, salt, pepper, and some water together to make a sticky dough. I ended up using about a cup of water, but I would suggest you start with 1/4 cup and gradually add from there if you need it. You want the dough to be very sticky.
9. Now, this is where I deviate from the written recipe (well, and the mushrooms, but I digress). The recipe says to make your dumplings in a separate pot of boiling water. This makes no sense to me because 1) It's an extra pot you have to clean, and 2) I would think that by cooking the dumplings in the chicken broth you've made that they would have extra flavor. So, that's what I did - I made them in the same pot. However, feel free to use an extra pot if you want - you would need it full of boiling water.
10. Bring your chicken pot up to boiling. Take a spoonful of dumpling dough. I used a dessert/teaspoon/whatever, as a tablespoon would have made really big dumplings. You want your dumplings to be on the smaller side so they will cook completely.
11. Dip your spoon of dumpling dough into the boiling broth. The dumpling should slide right off, but don't worry if a little residual dough sticks to the spoon.
12. Continue making dumplings until all your dough is gone. The dumplings should float when they are cooked.
13. Remove the chicken and shred the meat.
14. Put the shredded meat back in the pot.
15. Add more salt, pepper, and paprika.
16. Reduce heat to simmering and let cook for an hour, letting more of the liquid reduce.
17. You can stir some sour cream into the paprikash before serving, or you can let everyone add their own if they want. I, of course, added lots of sour cream - yummy!
This was the second time I've made this dish, and I still found it to be rather bland. I don't know if I'm using the wrong kind of paprika, or not enough, or if there is something else I'm missing. It was still very good, though, and I hope you enjoy it!
