Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Slow cooker chicken paprikash recipe

I've wanted to try this recipe ever since I watched "When Harry Met Sally" about 20 years ago. I'd never heard of Paprikash until Harry said "Waiter, I need more pepper on my paprikash" in the museum scene, but it sounded good. I was right. It is very, very good. I'm starting to learn that finishing a braised meat dish with sour cream, as they often do in Eastern European cooking, works extremely well. I'll soon be posting a stroganoff recipe that works the same way. In the mean time, do try this. And if you can think of any other meals from movies I can try, let me know!

Ingredients for 4:

8-10 chicken thighs and/or drumsticks (or breasts, but I find they have less flavour)
4 tsps sweet (i.e. standard, not hot) paprika, ideally Hungarian
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp flour
1 cup / 250 ml chicken stock or broth
1/4 cup / 4 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp flour

Directions:

This looks long-winded but isn't complicated or time-consuming in reality.

Put the chicken pieces into a large frying pan / skillet. Sprinkle half of the paprika, salt and pepper over them. Turn the chicken over and sprinkle the other half of the seasoning over the other side. 

Put the pan onto the burner on medium to high heat. Watch the chicken pieces carefully as you're adding no extra fat which means they will brown quite quickly - that's exactly what you want as it adds flavour. Cook for 2-4 minutes each side until browned without moving them about too much.

Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker and throw the onion into the frying pan to fry using any drippings left by the chicken. Sauté the onion for several minutes until it starts to soften then add the flour and cook, stirring well, for around 90 seconds. Add the chicken stock and allow it to bubble until the sauce starts to thicken. Tip the sauce and onion over the chicken.

Cook on Low for 6-8 hours or on High for 3-4.

30 minutes before you want to eat, mix the sour cream with the remaining 2 tbsp flour in a small bowl. Add a few spoonfuls of stock from the slow cooker to warm the sour cream. This prevents it from curdling when you add it to the chicken. Add the sour cream mixture to the slow cooker and stir well. Through all of this, try not to leave the lid off the slow cooker for any longer than necessary as it takes a while to regain heat. Continue cooking for 30 more minutes.

Serve with noodles, rice or mashed potato. Lick the plate clean and put me in your will. Leftovers freeze well. Apparently!

Verdict:

You may have picked up that this was absolutely awesome. The house smelt amazing. The method meant that the chicken had good colour and that lovely, slightly charred "umami" taste. The sauce was creamy and had body but wasn't hot or spicy. 5 stars all round. Love it. Love it. Love it.

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