Christmas Dinner for the Papp family this year will be Chicken Paprikas. This has been a closely guarded family recipe for years. My mother in law drove up from Cincinnati to show me how to make it many years ago, and now it's time for me to pass this recipe on. The best way to make this is with bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and thighs. The extra flavor that comes from the bones and skin really counts. Using only boneless skinless chicken breasts will do in a pinch, but I don't recommend it. They tend to dry out. This is a labor of love. Not difficult, just time consuming once the dumpling process begins. By the way, you can never have enough dumplings. They begin to disappear as soon as they come out of the pot, and if you don't stand guard you'll be making dumplings forever!
CHICKEN PAPRIKAS
4 Chicken Breasts, bone in, skin on, split in half
8 Chicken Thighs, bone in, skin on
(Or 2 large frying chickens, cut up)
2 large onions, diced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
3 T oil
Hungarian Paprika (I use Szeged, usually a whole large can!)
Salt
3 large cans chicken broth or 3-4 qts homemade
cayenne pepper
16oz. sour cream
The night before cooking wash the chicken and sprinkle with salt on each side. Refrigerate. Note: if you purchased chicken that has been enhanced with broth or a solution, skip this step! In a large dutch oven saute onions and garlic in oil until clear, not brown. Put paprika in a bowl, and coat each piece in paprika then add to the onion pot. Add 1/4 tsp ground cayenne (about 4 good shakes) to the chicken broth. Pour over the the chicken and roast in a 350 oven for about 2 hours, until chicken is very tender. Remove the chicken from the pan, and thicken the sauce with a slurry of flour and water. Add the sour cream to the sauce, stirring gently to combine. Adjust seasoning with salt and more cayenne if necessary, return the chicken to the pot, simmer to combine flavors. Serve over dumplings.
YOU CAN MAKE THIS THE DAY BEFORE, JUST REHEAT IN A 325 OVEN UNTIL SERVING TEMP. 45 MINUTES TO AN HOUR.
DUMPLINGS
12 eggs
4 c of flour
Bring a large pot of water to boil, add salt (the water must be salty to flavor the dumplings). Beat the eggs, then add the flour. You will have a very sticky dough! Drop the dumplings by teaspoon fulls into the boiling pot (wet spoon, pick up dough, swirl spoon in water to release. I use an iced tea spoon.) Work quickly. When pot is full with a layer of dumplings, cook for 5-8 minutes, until tender and no longer gooey. Remove the dumplings with a hand strainer to a bowl to keep warm. Continue until all dumplings are made. Serve the Paprikas over the dumplings.
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