Hungarian-style Chicken Stew with Tomatoes

I know, I know. My first post here involving paprika really shouldn't be a weeknight dish, or even worse, something totally unauthentic. But it is. Some day, I'll post the real deal, just like my grandma made, with nokedli (Hungarian dumplings, basically spaetzle) and full-fat sour cream and the hour long plus cooking time. But when I asked dh what he wanted for his birthday, he said "Chicken Paprikash... like you used to make." Which means Chicken Paprikash before I figured out the real recipe. The wrong recipe that I used that had canned tomatoes and small chopped up pieces of chicken so it would cook quicker, basically a totally botched version. Later, when I asked my grandmother whether it had tomatoes I got a loud "Nnooooooooooo! No tomatoes!!" with a hint of disgust. So Brian tells me to call it something else, and I did, but in my heart it will forever be imposter's Paprikash Csirke.

However, it's tasty, and sort of scratches my chicken paprikash itch on a weeknight, so I won't feel shame or apologize for that.



Hungarian-style Chicken Stew with Tomatoes

1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb chicken thigh meat, skinned, deboned, and removed of excess fat, chopped into 1" pieces
2 TB sweet Hungarian Paprika (look for something in a red tin that says Magyar on it somewhere)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained slightly
1/2 cup sour cream, approx
olive oil for cooking
salt and pepper

10 oz (dry weight) Boiled egg noodles

In a large high-sided saute pan, add olive oil (about 1 TB) and cook the onion over medium heat until soft and slightly golden. Move the onions aside and add the paprika, stirring to make sure it doesn't burn. You just want to toast the spice a bit. After about 30 seconds, add the chicken. Cook, stirring occassionally, until chicken is cooked thoroughly. Add the can of diced tomatoes and simmer for another couple minutes. Turn off heat and add sour cream, mixing thoroughly until sauce is thick and delicious. Taste for salt (this is best fairly heavily salted), add a bit of pepper if you like. Serve over egg noodles (or better yet, nokedli that has been boiled and later browned in butter... yum) and with a simple side veggie; green beans and broccoli both work well.

Makes a lot... serves 4-6

Enjoy!