"Chicken braised in onion, paprika and sour cream until the sauce is brick-red and silky, Hungary's most comforting dish, served with egg dumplings that absorb every drop."
About Chicken Paprikash
Hungary's most comforting dish: chicken pieces braised in a sauce of lard-fried onion, sweet and hot paprika and sour cream until the sauce is brick-red, silky and slightly tangy; served with nokedli, small egg dumplings pressed through a sieve directly into boiling water; the paprika must be fresh-ground Hungarian; nothing else has the right fragrance.
Chicken Paprikash, a staple of Hungary's cuisine
The Sauce
Chicken paprikash is among Hungary's most comforting dishes: chicken braised in a sauce of onions softened in lard, sweet and sometimes hot paprika, and sour cream, until it turns brick-red, silky and faintly tangy. The sour cream is stirred in off the heat so it does not curdle, leaving the sauce smooth and glossy. It is home cooking at its warmest.
Paprika at the Centre
Paprika is the soul of the dish and of Hungarian cooking generally. Fresh, fragrant Hungarian paprika from Szeged or Kalocsa gives the sauce its colour and gentle sweetness; stale, greyish paprika turns it bitter and dull. Blooming it briefly in the warm fat releases its flavour without scorching, the step that makes or breaks the sauce.
Nokedli
Paprikash is served with nokedli, small egg dumplings pressed through a sieve straight into boiling water and cooked in a couple of minutes. They soak up the sauce completely and are the second reason to eat the dish. Serving paprikash with anything else is, to Hungarian eyes, a compromise.
Home Cooking
Chicken paprikash is the most accessible expression of Hungarian home cooking, gathering the country's flavour ideas, paprika, sour cream and lard, into one uncomplicated plate. It is weeknight and Sunday food alike, made in countless household variations. The sour cream's tang keeps the richness in check, which is what makes it so easy to eat.
What to Expect
The chicken paprikash arrives with the sauce pooling around the nokedli. A piece of chicken is cut, then dragged through the sauce and eaten with a dumpling alongside. The sour cream gives the sauce a slight tang that stops it from being too rich.
Why Try It
Chicken paprikash is Hungarian home cooking's most internationally accessible dish: all the country's flavour philosophy (paprika, sour cream, lard) in one uncomplicated plate.
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Insider Tips
The sour cream must be full-fat and added off the heat, the sauce curdles otherwise.
Nokedli are required. Serving paprikash with anything else is a compromise.
Gundel in Budapest is the historic address, though neighbourhood étteremek (restaurants) serve equally good versions.
