Chicken Stew With Home-made Noodles

Here in Hungary it is said that you can make a paprika stew from anything. Gastronomy - including home cooking - has been going through considerable changes in the last decade or two, but I can say that in the 80s and 90s paprika was the principal spice, my mum used loads of it. I love cooking and experimenting with new ingredients and I rarely use paprika, yet this is one of my childhood classics I get back to once in a while. I usually prepare double the quantity not only because I have two teenage boys who can't have too much meat, but this way I will have some leftover that is ideal to make stuffed pancakes or just to put in sandwiches

Ingredients of the stew

1 chicken cut to pieces

(breasts, legs cut into two, breast, and wings
Ask your butcher to do it, it will save you time and energy, and he is a pro, after all)

1 pepper

1 tomato

40g duck grease

30g salt

30g paprika

Ingredients of the noodles

150 g flour

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of salt

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

160 g water

First of all, chop the veggies:

- the onions, as fine as you can,

- remove the seeds of the pepper and cut it into stripes lengthwise then chop the slices (pictures 2-4.)

- the garlic,

- and the tomato.

Put approximately 2/3 of the grease into a saucepan and start melting it on medium heat. Add the onions and saute on low/medium heat until it get soft (for about 15 minutes). Take care not to burn it (adding the salt at this stage will help you avoid burning) - pictures 1-4. Add the pepper and keep cooking for another 10 minutes.

Tip: Chose a saucepan with a large base, the stew cooks more evenly if the meat is placed in one layer.

Put the rest of the grease in a frying pan and fry the chicken pieces on high heat. You should work with only a few pieces at the same time, if you try to squeeze too many in the pan, they'll get cooked rather than fried. Fry them until the skinny part is golden brown. Once they are ready, transfer them into the saucepan on top of the onion. Add water so that the level of the water would be slightly under the top of the meat (pictures 1-3).

Bring it to boil, then cover with a lid and cook it for 45 minutes.

Afterwards, add the paprika and the tomato (pictures 4-5) season with freshly ground pepper and cook it for another 20 minutes.

Separate the chicken pieces and the sauce, remove the meat from the bones, get rid of the skin and cut the meat into bite-sized bits. Using a hand blender, blend the sauce then bring it back to boil and keep boiling until it gets nice and thick (like a cream soup).

Let's get on with the noodles. I guess, this is one of the fastest and easiest home made pasta in the world. We have a special utensil you can see in the photo with the yellow top, but you may use anything to make them that is heat resistant and has holes the dough can go through. Or, you can actually scoop the dough into the boiling water it with a teaspoon.

Bring water to boil in a large saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of salt into the water.

Mix the eggs, flour, salt and water, and let the dough flow through the noodle-maker straight away into the boiling water. Don't let the dough stand, it can get stiff. Wait till the noodles come up to the surface, then pour it through a sieve.Put the noodles into a clean bowl add the sunflower oil and mix (it will stop the noodles from sticking together).

Reheat the meat before serving by putting the bits back into the hot stew.

Serve your chicken stew accompanied by pickled cucumber and sour cream on top. Enjoy!