Hungarian Chicken Paprikash

What is Chicken Paprikash?

It’s a classic Hungarian dish, which features chicken, onions, broth, tomatoes (sometimes, not always) and of course copious amounts of paprika.

Ingredients:

• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken leg quarters, split
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as grapeseed
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 large garlic cloves, finely minced or grated
• 3 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika or a combination of sweet and hot paprika
• 3 cups chicken stock (homemade or store-bought)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (from about 1/4 a juicy lemon)Fresh parsley, for garnish (optional), Buttered egg noodles, for serving.
  

             

  Instructions:

• When ready to cook, pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season it with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper, evenly dividing them between both sides of all the chicken pieces. Heat the oil and butter in a large sauté pan set over medium-high heat. Once the butter begins to foam, add the chicken skin side down, making sure to press it as flat as possible onto the hot surface, and fry for 7 to 8 minutes. Flip and fry the other side for 7 to 8 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
• Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion. Cook for 3 minutes and, using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, stir occasionally to scrape up the crispy bits as you go. Add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes longer. Add the paprika and, stirring constantly to prevent it from burning, cook for 1 minute.
• Add the stock and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and stir to incorporate. Return the chicken to the pan along with any accumulated juices and adjust the heat to bring to a simmer. If you’d rather have stewed-style chicken, flip the chicken halfway through the cooking time; you can pull the skin off before serving.
• Cook until the chicken is cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Place the room-temperature sour cream in a medium bowl and carefully spoon small amounts of the hot sauce from the pan into the sour cream to temper it, mixing each spoonful in before adding the next. Once you’ve added enough hot sauce to make the sour cream very warm to the touch, add all of it to the sauté pan and stir well to incorporate.
• Add the lemon juice and season to taste with more lemon juice salt, and pepper, if needed. Return the chicken to the sauté pan and garnish with parsley, if desired, before serving immediately on top of buttered egg noodles.