Chicken smothered in a creamy tomato sauce with handmade Hungarian dumplings (aka spaetzle aka nokedli) – it’s easier to make than you think.
Hungarian Food
The perfect comfort food, usually great in the dead of winter or if you’re suffering from a hangover or if you just want something delicious that will truly fill you up.
When you think of traditional Hungarian dishes think meat, seasonal veggies, fresh bread & dairy products. This version of chicken paprikash & nokedli combines almost all of those (exempting bread….unless of course you want to toss a loaf of bread in there somewhere then yay! Hungarian food summarized!)
Nokedli or is it Spaetzle or is it Hungarian Dumplings?
All versions of the egg noodle, a free-form egg noodle.
You could easily boil up a pre-packaged bag of egg noodles as the side here but where would be the fun in that? Plus the texture & taste just can’t be compared. Spaetzle/Nokedli/Hungarian dumplings are easy and honestly kind of fun to make….if you don’t mind semi-sticky fingers and maybe enlisting a helper to pull the cooked dumplings out. My husband and I had a dumpling party….well I wouldn’t really call it a party as much as a concentrated effort over a boiling pot of water, but when we ate them, heck yes it was a party….a party of flavour in our mouths! Haha but seriously have fun making these little bundles of traditional Hungarian cuisine.
In this recipe you’ll be using your fingers to shape the dumplings but you can also use a cheese grater (by grating your spaetzle dough over the pot of boiling water), a specialized Nokedli maker or a fork to separate and shape the little guys.
Oh yes and Nokedli is also sometimes called Galuska. Congratulations, you are now a walking thesaurus for egg noodle dumplings.
Chicken Paprikash with Spaetzle
Skill Level: Intermediate | Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min
Ingredients
For the Paprikash
2 1/2 cups flour2 Tbsp. butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. ground paprika
1 28oz. can of diced tomatoes
2 bone-in chicken breasts
2 Tbsp. flour
1 8oz. container sour cream
For the Spaetzle
2 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
2/3 cup whole milk (or 2%)
1 Tbsp butter
Salt and pepper
For the Paprikash
Melt the butter over medium in a large skillet. Add onions and cover to steam for 1 minute.
Add the garlic, paprika, tomatoes and 1/2 tsp of salt. Stir until well incorporated.
Add the chicken breasts and cover, stirring occasionally (using a spoon to pour some of the sauce onto the breasts) for 20 minutes. Flip the chicken and cook, covered, for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Mix in the flour and the sour cream. Cook for another minute to meld the flavours and serve with the prepared spaetzle (see below).
For the Spaetzle
Put a large pot of water onto boil.
Add the flour to a large bowl and break the eggs into it. Add 1/2 tsp. salt.
Using a fork, slowly whisk the milk into the flour mixture until you get a soft mass.
With your fingers, rip ~1 inch pieces of dough from the mass, gently dropping them into the boiling water, so as not to have it splash back up at you.
When the pieces of spaetzle come to the surface they are done cooking. Use a slotted spoon to remove them. You may have to remove some to allow more to rise to the surface.
In a non-stick pan, quickly fry up the drained spaetzle for 3-4 minutes. Salt & pepper to taste,
The Playful Palate 