One of the things I miss most about living in Tasmania (2000-2002) is an amazing little cafe in Moonah called 'Cafe Eva'. It was run by the lovely Eva, a Hungarian friend I met through my husband who had been part of a babysitting ring of parents who would babysit for each other when their children were small. Eva is a larger than life personality who made you feel like you were a guest in her home the minute you walked in her small cafe on Main St. Moonah, ten minutes from bustling Hobart city. Sadly her cafe was sold and became a juice business but Cafe Eva and her famous Hungarian paprika chicken with homemade nockerli or nockedli (a Hungarian version of gnocchi but much smaller pieces) will always be close to my heart.


Sadly Eva didn't pass on her recipe but I have found one that looks very close to the spirit of the dish that she cooked. The photo comes from Wikipedia Cuisine of Hungary and links to the Wikipedia page for Goulash

(Image source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paprikahuhn)

Hungarian Paprika Chicken with Nokedli (Paprikáscsirke nokedlivel)

• 2 onions chopped
• 4 Tbsp. shortening, corn oil or lard
• 3 Tbsp. Hungarian paprika
• 1/8 Tsp. black pepper or whole pepper corns
• 2 Tsp. salt
• 4 to 5 lbs. chicken disjointed, use legs, thighs, breast and back for best flavour
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 pt. sour cream

1. Brown onions in shortening.
   
2. Add seasonings and chicken, brown 10 minutes.
   
3. Add water, cover and let simmer slowly until it is tender. It will smell wonderful!
   
4. Remove chicken, add sour cream to drippings in pan and mix well.
   
5. To thicken gravy, mix into a paste 1 Tbl. soft butter with 1 Tbl.of flour and stir into drippings.
6. Add dumplings and arrange chicken on top. Heat through,but do not boil, and serve.
   

The recipe includes some potato dumplings based on instant mashed potato but paprika chicken wouldn't be the same without some of Eva's famous nokedli (sounds like gnoccheli). A hungarian variety of gnocchi but made in small pearls of homemade goodness which, when coupled with paprika chicken, send you into a state of bliss.

Nokedli (Galuska)

Ingredients:
The dough just needs to be lightly combined. Over mixing will make this dumpling blend unworkable.
800g flour
4 eggs
Pinch salt
650ml water
Melted butter or oil

Method:
Bring 5 litres of water to the boil with 20g salt.
Beat eggs, water and add to sifted flour and salt.
Combine lightly and push through dumpling strainer with a spatula into the boiling water.
Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon when they rise to the surface of the water.
Roll in melted butter or oil before serving.

In the video it shows the chef using a Spaetzle Maker to form the miniature dumplings by pushing the dough through the holes into the boiling water. I found some Spaetzle Makers on Amazon, below and realised I already have a potato ricer with interchangeable ricer discs that I could use.

Eva's paprika chicken was served on a warmed plate with a blanket of nokedli (tiny hand-fashioned dumpling squiggles similar in texture to gnocchi), and the succulent, tender pieces of paprika chicken carefully placed on top and lashings of the amazing sauce covering most of the dumplings and sprinkled with some paprika and dollops of sour cream. Delicious!

---
More on chicken paprika from Wikipedia:

Goulash is a dish, originally from Hungary, a stew or a soup, usually made of beef, red onions, vegetables, spices and ground paprika powder.^[1] The name originates from the Hungarian gulyás (pronounced goo-yash listen (help·info)), the word for a cattle stockman or herdsman.

So Paprika Chicken (Paprikas) is a variant of Goulash

Paprikás

A slightly similar dish is Paprikas, made only with diced meat. Paprikas is made with chicken, lamb^[14], pork^[15], calf^[16] or goose, sometimes bones included (chicken cutlets or lamb). The meat is covered by a rich, thick creamy paprika sauce. Paprikás is usually made without any vegetables. The diced meat is seared with finely chopped fried onions and paprika, then simmered along with stock or water on low heat.^[17] Chicken paprikash is made with whole chicken pieces, legs, thighs, breast and back, onion and paprika, covered and cooked on a small fire, simmered until the chicken is tender, then sour cream and heavy cream is added to the gravy. If two or three tablespoons of paprika powder is used for spice and a generous amount of sour cream or cream (or a mixture of both) is added to the meat in the end, which is prepared the same way as the Pörkölt, it will become what the Hungarians call a Paprikás^[18]. Topping the dish with fresh chopped parsley gives the paprikás its special flavour. When making paprikás, a tasty vegetarian alternative is gombapaprikás - mushroom paprikas - where sliced mushrooms are used instead of meat.

References:

1. June Meyer's Authentic Hungarian Chicken Paprika
   http://homepage.interaccess.com/~june4/hunchicpaprikas.html
   
2. Answer to the question "Hungarian version of gnocchi - recipe please?" by louevans1970@btinternet.com on Yahoo Answers
   http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080113154908AAEpHqR
   
3. Food Safari video featuring the making of Nokedli
   http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/134/Porkolt_with_nokedli_and_cucumber_salad
4. Cuisine of Hungary
   http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Hungary
   
5. Recipe Bazaar Nodedli Dumplings
   http://www.recipezaar.com/Hungarian-Nokedli-Dumplings-54823
6. Group recipes Nokedli
   http://www.grouprecipes.com/9224/nokedli---hungarian-dumpling.html
7. Hungarian Food Recipes: Nokeldi-Galuska-Spaetzle
   http://hungarianfoodrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/06/nokeldi-galuska-spaetzle.html
   
8. Hungarian nockerli
   http://neocortext.blogspot.com/2008/03/hungarian-nockerli.html
9. Goulash place nokedli reference
   http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Review/99-99/goulash-place

Tweet This