I am continually fascinated by how ingredients migrated from one part of the globe to another, becoming pivotal components of a distant country’s cuisine. So, it was with bell and related pod peppers of the Capsicum genus, This Chicken Paprikás (Paprikás csirke in Hungarian) is a product of such migration.
Capsicum peppers aren’t indigenous to Europe. This now ubiquitous vegetable was among the treasures collected by Christopher Columbus on his 15th century expeditions around southern Mexico, Central America and the Antilles. Columbus mistakenly believed New World peppers were related to the Indian black pepper (Piper nigrum).
Spain introduced Capsicum annum to the Old World, as this New World pepper is botanically named. This pepper was easy to grow and migrated from the Iberian Peninsula to Africa and Asia, ultimately reaching Central Europe and Hungary through the Balkans.
Hungarian cuisine was influenced by Hungary’s largest ethnic group, the nomadic Magyars, a Uralic-speaking people whose origins are traced as far back as 2000 BCE, who embarked westward and occupied the southern Ural Mountains in what today is Kazakhstan. Eventually, between the fourth and eighth centuries, they moved over the Urals into today’s Ukraine and southwest Russia. At the beginning of the 10th century, they migrated west and settled in today’s Hungary.
The culinary legacy of the wandering Magyars is reflected in their traditional food; simple one-pot stews featuring meat or fish, vegetables when in season, and grains or dumplings. Peppers appeared in Magyar cuisine after the 1526 Ottoman Empire conquest of Hungary and during the Ottoman 158-year suzerainty over Hungarian territory. The Ottoman Turks brought peppers from the Balkans, which were ornamental in aristocratic gardens.
Initially, Hungarians were suspicious of peppers. Peasant cooks were first to incorporate fresh, dried, ground peppers in local meat dishes served to the aristocracy. Eventually, these spicy additions made their way to upper-class kitchens throughout Europe. These peppers grew well in the long, hot summers and the sandy soil of Kalocsa and Szeged in southern Hungary, and were hybridized creating distinctive tastes, ranging from sweet to mildly hot to fiery hot. By the 19th century, paprika became a dominant spice in Hungarian kitchens and the symbol of Hungary’s cuisine.
Paprika powder, produced by grinding dried, deep red-hot chilies, reflects this spiciness, which derives from the amount of interior pith left on the peppers before drying and grinding. The pith contains capsaicin, the component of Capsicum peppers which produces the sensation of burning. Hungarians enjoy the entire paprika spectrum from fully hot to sweet or mild.
George Lang, a Hungarian-born New York city restauranteur and author of the preeminent English-language work on Hungarian cookery The Cuisine of Hungary , writes: There is something about paprika itself that makes it synonymous with ‘Hungarian.’ ‘Fiery,’ ‘spicy,’ ‘temperamental’–all these adjectives suggest both paprika and the Hungarian national character. Paprika is to the Hungarian cuisine what wit is to its conversation–not just a superficial garnish, but an integral element, a very special and unique flavor instantly recognizable.
Hungarian “paprika” refers to the ground powder and the plant that produces the spice itself; it is an everyday ingredient in Hungarian kitchens. Depending on the dish, Hungarian cooks use ground (sweet or hot), dry-whole peppers and fresh peppers in abundance.
In Hungary, nearly all dishes include sweet paprika. To bring out the full flavor of paprika, many Hungarian dishes start by frying chopped onion in lard until soft before adding ground paprika, producing the definitive, complex Hungarian flavor. Somewhere along the line the Hungarians hit on the holy trinity of lard, onion and pure ground paprika, writes Lang. This cooking method is the first step in countless Hungarian dishes, heightening the peppery flavor and aroma. A little bowl or paprika shaker sits next to the salt and pepper on any Hungarian dining table in case you need to add an extra kick to hot or cold dishes.
Paprika has remarkable nutritional and medicinal properties. Early on, paprika was recognized as a useful home remedy for problems with circulation, inflammation and cholesterol. But in 1937 Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, a professor at the University of Szeged, won the Nobel prize for discovering vitamin C in paprika peppers (five times that found in lemon), its antiscorbutic and other physiological effects and ascertaining how to extract it. Vitamin C became the remedy for scurvy and its importance in boosting the immune system made its discovery an important achievement in medical science. Capsaicin’s anti-inflammatory and painkiller effects were incorporated into many medications.
Budapest Central Market Hall — Peppers sold in various forms
In Hungarian markets, paprika is available in eight gradations of the spice varying in color and pungency, but this wide selection is unavailable in North America. American spice shops and online line sellers usually carry Hungarian paprika as sweet and hot. The most common kind found in the US is called édes nemes or “noble sweet,” which is full-bodied, fruity with a gorgeous red hue; perfect for Chicken Paprikás — which highlights paprika more than any other Hungarian dish.
Budapest Central Market Hall — Poultry Seller
Chicken Paprikás represents the best of Hungarian cooking. The chicken pieces are braised in a brick-red sauce made simply from onions, tomatoes, bell pepper and paprika, mellowed with sour and heavy cream. When served atop nokeldi, Hungarian egg dumplings, Chicken Paprikás’ tender chicken melts into a memorably rich, flavorful, creamy paprika-infused sauce!
Several elements contribute to the success of Chicken Paprikás. First, the best ground paprika must be used. Fresh ground paprika is available at various spice purveyors and online.* Second, although it is possible to make the dish with oil, lard should be used to fry the chicken. The amount of lard used in this recipe is quite modest, but the flavor benefit is great. Third, bell peppers add depth to the dish, even though the inclusion of green or red bell peppers varies by region and cultural tradition. Red peppers tend to be sweeter while green peppers tend to have a more intense flavor. Fourth, using chicken broth instead of water, while not traditional, enriches the flavor of this stew.
With its subtle smokiness and sweetness, paprika is the undoubted star of Chicken Paprikás. But the final addition of two creams to the sauce adds a mild tang and richness to this stew which has a mere touch of heat. As Lang notes in his seminal cookbook: The combination of sour cream and heavy cream is the almost forgotten, but ideal way to prepare this dish. Today, more often than not, the heavy cream is omitted. In Hungary, the lily is gilded by spreading several tablespoons of additional sour cream on top of the chicken in the serving platter. I took Lang’s advice, both finishing the paprikás sauce with sour cream and heavy cream and adding a dollop of sour cream just before serving. The result is sublime, especially when served over soft textured nokeldi, Hungarian dumplings.
Chicken Paprikás
adapted from George Lang’s The Cuisine of Hungary **
2 medium yellow onions, diced
2 medium Roma tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 bell pepper, seeded and diced (optional)
2 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil, if you must
3 pounds (1361 g) bone-in chicken pieces, thighs and drumsticks preferred, trimmed of excess skin and fat
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup sweet Hungarian paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups chicken broth
¼ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Nokeldi –Hungarian dumplings (recipe follows).
Chicken Paprikás ingredients
Dice onions, tomatoes and peppers.
Salt and pepper chicken pieces. Heat lard in a 4-5 quart Dutch oven or deep-sided skillet pan. When hot, fry chicken skin side down for 5-6 minutes.
Flip chicken over and brown the other side for 3 minutes. (Lang’s recipe does not brown the chicken but doing so increases the flavor of the final dish).
Transfer the chicken to a plate. Keep chicken warm and return pan with remaining fat to the stove.
Using the same pan, add onions and cook over low heat until transparent but not browned, about 20 minutes.
Add tomato and peppers. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
Stir in paprika, ½ cup chicken broth, and salt and cook, covered, on very low heat, for half an hour. (This step releases the paprika’s aroma but take care to prevent burning by adding more broth as needed.)
Add chicken to the pan. Add remaining chicken broth. (Chicken should be half-submerged in the sauce.) Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, adding additional broth if dry.
Remove chicken from pan and set aside. Keep remaining sauce in pan over low heat.
Combine and whisk sour cream, flour and heavy cream into a smooth sauce. Temper this cream mixture by stirring in several tablespoons of hot sauce from cooking pan. Then whisk in the cream mixture into the sauce in the pan until smooth.
Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Return chicken pieces to pan.
Cover and cook at a simmer for 30 minutes, checking to make sure sauce does not boil. Chicken is done when the sauce has thickened.
Serve with egg dumplings and more sour cream.
Serves 6
Bon Appetit! Jó étvágyat!
Traditionally Chicken Paprikás is served with Hungarian dumplings called nokedli, which are made with eggs and flour and can be prepared quickly while the chicken is cooking. Of course, this dish can be paired instead with noodles, boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, rice or bread.
Nokeldi —Hungarian Egg Dumplings
2 cups flour, all-purpose
2 whole eggs
1 teaspoon sour cream
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup milk, warmed
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Combine and whisk flour and salt in a bowl, forming a small well in the center.
Add eggs, sour cream, butter and stir in a tablespoon of milk into the well, adding more milk a tablespoon at a time until your dough is soft and just combined and no flour is visible. (Overmixing can give the dumplings a rubbery texture.) Let dough rest while bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Make nokeldi using one of two methods, each of which produces a different shape noodle. See photos of these two methods in my blog on spaetzle http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/spaetzle-the-ubiquitous-noodle/.
The traditional cutting board method produces a long, irregular noodles; the colander or spaetzle-maker produces small round button-shaped noodles:
Cutting board method: Spray a heat-resistant cutting board (large enough to sit on top of cooking pot) and the blade of a sharp knife with cooking spray. Spread ¾ cup of dough in a thin layer on the cutting board. Use back end of the knife to cut and slide small strips of dough off the cutting board into the boiling water. Dip the knife into the boiling water to release the noodles. Cook noodles until they rise to the top and cook for 2-3 minutes. Lift out with strainer into the buttered serving dish, dot with butter stirring periodically so the nokedli do not stick and continue forming and cooking noodles.
Colander or spaetzle-maker method: Spray a large-holed colander or spaetzle-maker with cooking spray. Add dough in ¾ cup portions to either device and with a spatula or funnel on the spaetzle-maker* push the dough into the boiling water. Cook for 3 minutes, lift out with strainer and repeat with remaining dough.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a bowl as they cook and cover the bowl to keep them warm. Toss the nokedli with butter, or a little olive oil to keep them from sticking together. Serve hot with Chicken Paprikás.
*The Spice House at https://www.thespicehouse.com/products/hungarian-sweet-paprika and Amazon.
** George Lang, The Cuisine of Hungary, Bonanza, 1990.
One year ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/italian-oxtail-stew-coda-alla-vaccinara-2/
Two years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/morocco-travelers-sampler-sights/
Three years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/discovering-perus-foodways-part-2/
Four years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/sausage-and-white-bean-stew/
Five years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/spaetzle-the-ubiquitous-noodle/