Hungarian Chicken Paprikash

Ingredients

• 1.6kg bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks
• 3 tbsp lard (or vegetable oil)
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 Hungarian wax pepper or green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 500ml chicken stock
• 200g sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• salt, to taste
• 300g all-purpose flour (for nokedli)
• 2 eggs (for nokedli)
• 120ml water (for nokedli)
• 1 tsp salt (for nokedli)

Before you cook

• Pat the chicken pieces dry and season with salt.
• Finely chop the onions.
• Mince the garlic.
• Chop the wax pepper and tomato.
• Set the sour cream out to come to room temperature.
• Whisk together the nokedli flour, eggs, water, and salt in a bowl into a thick, smooth batter.

Steps

1. Melt the lard in a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat.
2. Add the chopped onions and cook slowly for 12 minutes, stirring often, until soft and golden but not browned.
3. Remove the pot from the heat.
4. Stir in the paprika quickly so it doesn't scorch.
5. Return the pot to medium heat and add the chicken pieces, turning to coat them in the paprika onions.
6. Stir in the garlic, chopped pepper, and tomato.
7. Pour in the chicken stock, cover, and bring to a gentle simmer.
8. Simmer covered for 40 minutes, turning the chicken once, until very tender.
9. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
10. Press the nokedli batter through a nokedli grater or colander directly into the boiling water.
11. Cook the nokedli for 3 minutes until they float, then drain.
12. Transfer the cooked chicken to a plate and reduce the sauce heat to low.
13. Whisk the 1 tablespoon of flour into the sour cream until smooth.
14. Stir a ladleful of the hot sauce into the sour cream mixture to temper it.
15. Pour the tempered sour cream back into the pot and stir to combine.
16. Return the chicken to the pot and warm through gently without letting it boil.
17. Serve the chicken and sauce over the nokedli.