Shared by Alex Sternberg
Shared by Alex Sternberg
Chicken Paprikash
Yield: 6 servingsTime: 1 h 30 min
Chicken Paprikash
Yield: 6 servingsTime: 1 h 30 minFamily Journey
Auschwitz-BirkenauRavensbrückDombovar, Hungary
Pápa, HungaryNew York
“Looking back, no dinner was complete without Auschwitz appearing on the menu. I digested my meals together with the stories of my parents’ painful memories,” Alex Sternberg writes in "Recipes from Auschwitz." There were meals of goulash, vegetable soup, spaetzle, stuffed cabbage, sour cherry soup, and other classics from Hungary including this chicken paprikash recipe.
It wasn’t just the stories of Auschwitz and other camps where his parents Olga and Marton were sent during the war that appeared on the table. It was the recipes themselves, that came from the camps.
In Auschwitz-Birkenau and Ravensbrück, a women’s concentration camp where Olga was sent, women would “cook” together. Cooking here was not a physical act, rather it was one of recollection and storytelling.
This recipe was shared by Alex Sternberg. Read more about his family in "A Mother’s Chicken Paprikash Recipe Lives On."
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- 8 chicken legs, bone-in and skin-on
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- ½ green or red bell pepper, de-stemmed, de-seeded and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 5 to 6 parsley stalks with leaves
Preparation
Step 1
Place the oil into a large pot over medium high heat.
Step 2
Once the oil is hot, gently place the chicken pieces into the pot and sear on both sides until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Transfer the seared chicken onto a plate.
Step 3
Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions into the same pot and saute, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 8 to 10 minutes.Add the pepper into the pot and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes or until the peppers soften.
Step 4
Add the chicken back into the pot with the onions and peppers.
Step 5
Add the paprika, salt, pepper and parsley and mix to coat the chicken.
Step 6
Add 3 cups of water to the pot or enough to cover the chicken ¾ the way up.
Step 7
Bring the pot to a simmer over medium heat and cover with a lid. Continue cooking over a gentle simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and reduce the heat to medium low, cooking the chicken on a gentle simmer for another 20 to 30 minutes or until the liquid reduces in half and the chicken is cooked and tender.
Step 8
Serve the chicken paprikash hot with spaetzle.
