Do you have low blood paprika? Every once in a while my husband has a craving for his mother’s Hungarian cooking. Doesn’t every son? So, he decided to make a nice home cooked meal for Shabbat, the beloved Hungarian dish Paprikáscsirke or Chicken Paprikás. There are hundreds of different recipes for this dish and I am sure that every Hungarian mother has their own version of this dish. Hungarian Jews who kept kosher of course omitted sour cream as we did. Make sure that you use a high quality Hungarian paprika for the best results.

Chicken Paprikás

(Paprikáscsirke)

Ingredients

1 chicken cut into 8 pieces
2 large onions coarsely chopped
5 large cloves garlic
3 bay leaves
1/3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp ground paprika sweet Hungarian, not smoked
1/2 tbsp ground hot paprika
Salt to taste
1 large red bell pepper seeded and coarsely chopped
1 large green bell pepper seeded and coarsely chopped
2 large tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped

Instructions

Heat the oil, in a large Dutch oven that has a lid. Add the chicken and brown it, remove the chicken to a plate. Add the onion and saute until soft, add the paprika, black pepper, bay leaves, garlic, and stir until the paprika uniformly colors the onion mixture. Saute for approximately 10 minutes. Add the chicken and cover the pot, simmer for about 45 minutes. Add the bell peppers, simmer for an additional 15 minutes and then add the tomatoes. Simmer for another 15 minutes.
Serve over rice, noodles, spaetzle or with dumplings.