Apparently this is a traditional Hungarian recipe – my version is only adjusted to use ingredients that I commonly have in the cupboards. I chose this recipe because I had chicken pieces in the fridge and needed to find a “casseroley” thing to do with them  I am going off into the desert for a month and need some quick to heat up meals – it will be Winter and we will be at a music festival for 3 days so getting back to the camp site in the cold at 8.30 pm and trying to cook something before freezing is not an option.

I am making a bunch of meals and freezing them so all we have to do is light the fire, get a glass of wine and heat up the previously defrosted hearty meal and socialise. No slaving over ingredients and cooking – just heating up warming comfort food, while enjoying good company and a nice red.

HUNGARIAN CHICKEN PAPRIKASH

To cook in the pressure cooker and reheat on a camp stove or in a camp oven

Ingredients

  • 2kg chicken drum sticks or pieces
  • 2 tablespoons paprika
  • 4 tbs flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 large onions, chopped into 1/4s and sliced finely
  • 2 red capsicum, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp thyme leaves
  • 3 cm butter, or 3tbs coconut oil
  • 2 tins chopped tinned tomato
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 tsp fish sauce
  • 1-1/2 cups hot water/stock powder mix if necessary
  • 2 tablespoons cold water
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream or yogurt to serve

Directions

  1. Mix flour, paprika, salt and pepper together and rub into chicken pieces and leave to rest. Keep any left over flour mix to thicken the stock later if necessary.
  2. Sauté onion, garlic and capsicum in butter until tender, place into pressure cooker
  3. Brown the chicken pieces in small batches in oil and add to pressure cooker.
  4. Add tins of tomato to fry pan with the thyme, pepper and fish sauce and stir to pick up any flavour from the chicken and then add to the pressure cooker. Push the chicken pieces around in the onion/capsicum/tomato mixture to cover. Add a little extra hot water if necessary.
  5. Put in pressure cooker for 30 minutes and allow to slow release.
  6. Remove chicken from pressure cooker and keep warm.
  7. In a small bowl, combine some left over flour paprika mix with cold water and stir until smooth, return to the vegetable mix and heat, stirring until thickened. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Remove from the heat.
  8. Stir in sour cream or yogurt. Serve with chicken and selected vegetables.
  9. If freezing don’t add sour cream – just put serves into zip lock bags and freeze and add sour cream or yogurt when heated through.

Approx 8 servings.