Here is the recipe from 'Culinaria Hungary' amended with tips my sister uses for making it at home.

Chicken Paprikas and Hungarian Dumplings

1 chicken
1 large onion
2 1/2 tbsp oil
1 heaping tbsp  ground paprika (sweet, Hungarian, not smoked)
Salt
2 Large Red Bell Peppers, seeded and diced
1 Large Tomato (you can use canned or boxed chopped tomato, use equivalent, you need a bit of the liquid if using the canned), peeled and seeded, chopped
1 2/3 cups sour cream (my sister uses 1 1/4 cup, says it's plenty and she sometimes uses creme frache)
1 - 2 tbsp flour

Cut up the chicken into pieces, leave skin on.  Salt the chicken.  Finely chop the onion.  Heat the oil, in a large Dutch oven that has a lid.  Add the chicken and brown it, remove the chicken to a plate.  Drain most of the excess fat, leaving a couple of tablespoons to cook the onions.  Add the onion and paprika, fry until onion is soft, add the chicken, bell peppers and tomato.  Immediately cover the pot and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 30 - 40 minutes.  Remove the chicken to a large serving bowl.  Using a stick blender, puree the rest of the cooked ingredients (you can do this in a heat-proof blender or food processor).  Reserve 1/4 cup of the sour cream or creme fraiche.  To the remaining one cup of sour cream, add the 1 -2 tbsp of flour and stir well.  Add the flour and sour cream mixture to the sauce over heat, stirring until it comes to the simmer and thickens slightly.  Pour the sauce over the chicken.  Swirl the reserved sour cream over the top.  To economize, you can reduce the sour cream to 8 ounces if that's the typical container size sold in your shops, it's plenty for the sauce and garnish.  The original recipe calls for 1 2/3 cup of sour cream, my sister said she has never needed the whole amount.  It's a generous amount even cutting it down a bit.

Hungarian Dumplings (noodles or spaetzle)

2 eggs
Pinch of Salt
About 3 1/2 Cups/400 g Flour
3/4 - 1 1/4 cups water
3 1/2 Tbsp. oil

Beat the eggs with the salt, and 3/4 cups water together.  Add enough flour to make a smooth, viscous dough.  Your flour may take more water.  My sister uses the larger quantity of water, King Arthur flour.  The dough should be very sticky, somewhere between dough and batter in consistency, don't be afraid to add more water if you feel you need it.  Beat well with a wooden spoon.  This is key because you want to develop some gluten so the final product has some 'tooth' and is not mushy and too soft.  Push the dough through a dumpling strainer into a pot containing a generous quantity of salted boiling water.  Pushing slowly creates larger noodles, faster creates smaller noodles.  They will puff up a little when cooked, so try make them just a little smaller than what you want as a final product.  The dumplings will cook in less than a minute.  Remove them with a slotted spoon when they rise to the surface and rinse briefly with lukewarm water, drain well and place in a bowl.  Drizzle with a few drops of oil, toss lightly - this will keep them from sticking together. You could refrigerate the noodles at this point if making them in advance. When you have cooked all the dough and you are ready to serve, heat butter in a skillet and sautee the noodles until hot.  You can opt to let them take on a little color or not, it's up to your personal preference, my sister prefers not to let them take on color.  Serve the hot, buttery noodles in a separate bowl along with the hot chicken paprikas.  Any leftovers can be gently reheated.

Last edited by MsPablo (Yesterday 9:11pm)

Last edited by MsPablo (Mon 14 Jul 08 3:27am)

Here in the BlackCountry its Faggot n Peas I have gluten free faggots poached in gf gravy with loads of Leo mushy peas..  

cookinlovebird

Frizz, that takes me back to the 70's!  I never had any success with recipes that called for packets of dried onion soup or canned soups.

Last edited by MsPablo (Tue 15 Jul 08 3:09pm)

Heehee.  Sounds, err, yummy!

Minerva, thanks for the heads-up re the jellies.  I've bought both from Fortnum & Mason in the past, hence wanting to try making them myself as back here at my parents' place we've got tons of lavender sprouting all over the place.   

I know we should be above this, as educated and worldly folk, food names such as  spotted dick will never, ever stop being funny.