The Global Kitchen: Chicken Prikash from Hungary

 

Chicken Prikash is a very popular dish found in Hungary. The name comes from the use of a lot of paprika to make up the dish. Paprika is sourced from Hungary and is found in a lot of the country's cuisine. The dish can be made using sweet or spicy paprika (I used both) and a orangish color. Some dishes include peppers and tomatoes but to I did not use either. 

It is traditionally served with egg noodles or a noodle similar to the German Spätzle. It can also be served with rice or millet. I was trying to eat healthier and chose to eat it with spaghetti squash. It would have been much better with noodles or rice, I am sure. 

Quartered chicken is a more traditional way of making this dish, but modern interpretations call for boneless, skinless chicken thighs (this is the way I made it). The chicken is dredged in a flour and paprika mixture and a bit of salt and pepper (in my onion the sauce could have used some salt as well). 

This dish was adopted by Hungarian Jews as a meal to have on the Sabbath and remains popular among the group today.  However, when they make the dish, they do not include the sour cream. 

Some other ingredients that have been included are peppers, garlic, tomatoes (this also would add a depth of flavor to the dish I feel like this variation is missing).

My opinion of this dish was that the paprika does really shine. I wish I had used more of the hot paprika for some added depth and I definitely think the sauce needs some salt as well. Some of my issues with the dish may be overcome if I serve it with the traditional noodles instead of the spaghetti squash. 

In my opinion, this dish was a bit of a miss for me, but I think it could be improved upon by adding some additional ingredients like the tomatoes and peppers and the salt mentioned earlier. I would say this probably won't be one I make again, but I have some leftovers I can play around with and see if it improves. 

This is what cooking is all about. Trying new things. Some things are great and a huge hit, others are not. In the past this would have really set me back. I would think I was a bad cook because it didn't turn out great when in reality, I probably just chose a bad recipe to try.  Not to mention a questionable side dish for this. Let me encourage you, don't let that one bad dish set you back. Learn from it. Figure out what would have made it better. Next time, things will turn out better and tastier. 

Now what to do with these leftovers...