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3
6
1
tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 2 and 1 tablespoons
ounces (170 g) (1 medium) onion finely chopped
tablespoon Hungarian paprika
½
½
1
medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
medium red pepper, finely chopped
medium ripe tomato, finely chopped (or 1 tablespoon tomato paste plus ¼ cup water)
teaspoon salt
1
2
tablespoons sour cream
1
tablespoon flour
Procedure
. Dry the chicken pieces thoroughly with paper or kitchen towel. Heat a heavy 9 or 10-
1
inch (25-cm) pan over medium to high heat. Brown both sides of the breasts in 2 tablespoons
vegetable oil, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove chicken and set it aside.
2
. Reduce heat to medium, add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and sauté onion just until it
begins to change color. Add paprika and continue to sauté for one minute, stirring constantly.
This step intensifies the paprika flavor by slightly caramelizing the sugar it contains, but be
careful. If it browns too much, you'll end up with a bitter taste).
. Quickly add tomato, red and green peppers and continue stirring a few more minutes.
(
3
Add chicken and salt, reduce heat to low, add a few tablespoons of water, if needed, cover pan
and simmer very gently for 30 minutes until chicken is tender and has absorbed the flavors from
the liquid. Check the moisture level once or twice, replace if necessary.
4. While the chicken is simmering, blend flour and sour cream in a tiny bowl into a
smooth, lump-free paste. Stir some hot sauce from the pot into the paste a teaspoonful at a time
until the blend has the consistency of light cream.
5. Shortly before serving, stir the sour cream blend into the sauce. This both tones down
the flavor and thickens the sauce. Continue cooking uncovered, barely bubbling, for 10 minutes,
stirring frequently. Serve over buttered noodles sprinkled with one tablespoon poppy seeds, on
the side fresh-cooked vegetables or marinated cucumber salad. Garnish with red or green pepper
rings and a dusting of paprika.
Makes 4 portions.
Adapting old chicken recipes
If your favorite chicken recipe is old, add less liquid than specified. If needed, you can
always add more later. Poultry processors add more water today than was standard 50 years ago.
Here is why.
Immediately after cleaning, they chill the poultry in ice water for several hours to rapidly
lower the temperature of the meat. This helps to reduce the growth of bacteria and slows the
deterioration of the meat. Soaking also loosens surface dirt and helps in a thorough cleaning. The
downside is that it gives the meat time to soak up water, too, for which you pay at the checkout
stand. After soaking, they quickly freeze the poultry. When the supermarket meat clerk or you
defrost the poultry, some of this water leaks out, but most of it remains between the skin and the
meat, and that is all yours (after all you paid for it). Because of all that excess water, add just the
smallest amount of liquid to the pot when stewing or braising, then recheck the liquid level
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