CHICKEN GULYAS - CSIRKEGULYÁS

Chicken gulyás is less robust than traditional gulyás. Boneless, skinless breast meat of the chicken is preferred for gulyás, the boney parts tend to fall apart. Traditional gulyás from beef or pork is made into a stew first with water added later with the vegetables. But breast of chicken cooks far too quickly to develop sufficient flavour and the solution is the addition of homemade stock. Stock is best from the darker meat and the boney parts of the chicken. I don’t recommend stock made from roasted carcass or from bouillon cubes or commercial stock.  Make the stock a day ahead; simmer it slowly for several hours to transfer all the flavour to the stock. Pressure cooker makes a wonderful stock and is a huge time saver.

I add pinched noodles about the same time I add the vegetables. Pinched noodles are made from very stiff dough. These absorb very little liquid and don’t starch up the soup. Regular pasta is no substitute and I would just as soon omit putting anything into the gulyás if I had no pinched noodles available. There are several brands of pinched noodles in the deli section of large grocery stores and sometimes European delis carry them under the name of Bavarian Spaetzle Pasta or Hungarian Pinched Noodles. What you have to watch for is the cooking instruction; this type of pasta takes about 17-20 minutes of cooking. Or you can laboriously make them just like I do. 

CHICKEN GULYAS - CSIRKEGULYÁS

2 skinless, boneless breast of chicken

1 onion, diced
3 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp caraway seeds, crushed

1-1/2 + 1/2 Tbsp Hungarian Paprika
1 clove of garlic, minced
6 cups of rich homemade chicken stock

1/2 yellow or red pepper, diced
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 parsnip, diced
1/2 celery root, chopped
2 potatoes

1/4 cup pinched noodles
salt and pepper to taste
14% sour cream

• Cut the chicken into large chunks.

• Mince the garlic, crush the caraway seeds and set them aside.
• Finely chop the onions.
• In a medium dutch pot heat 3 Tbsp oil; add the onions and sauté until translucent.
• Add the meat and braise it turning the pieces until no longer pink.
• Chop the green pepper and tomatoes; add to the pot.

• Add 1-1/2 Tbsp of paprika, the caraway seeds and the garlic.
• Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the stock and bring it to a steady simmer.

• Peel and coarsely chop the carrots, parsnip, potatoes and the celery root and add to the pot.
• Add the pinched noodles and bring the soup back to a steady simmer

• When the carrots are tender, adjust the salt and add freshly ground pepper to taste.

• Stir in the remaining 1/2 Tbsp of Hungarian paprika.

• Serve with sour cream.