Paprika Chicken

I’m writing the blog on the train today and am so excited as I’m having lunch at the top of the Gherkin.  Supper is on my mind though and we’ll be having this chicken dish, fresh from the freezer and based on a Hairy Bikers recipe that I’ve tweaked a bit to give it a bit more oomph, a technical term for extra paprika.  I think I’ll serve it with crispy potato wedges but it does work well with rice too.

Ingredients

1 large chicken, jointed (or use 2 large chicken legs and 2 breasts, halved)

Salt

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 large knob butter

1 onion, finely chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or squished

2 tbsp. hot paprika

1 tbsp. flour

285ml chicken stock

3 tbsp. chopped parsley, flat or curly

2 red peppers, de-seeded and cut into 1cm/0.5in strips

4 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

250ml sour cream.

Method

Rub the chicken pieces with the salt. Heat the oil and butter in a large heavy-bottomed pan and brown the chicken all over for a few minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set to one side.

To the same pan, add the onions and garlic and cook without colour for about five minutes. Add the hot paprika, then the flour, and stir until combined – keep the mixture moving or it might catch and burn.

Add the stock and stir to make the sauce. Return the chicken pieces to the pan, adding a bit more stock if the mixtures seems too dry.

Add half of the chopped parsley and bring to the boil.

Stir in the tomatoes, cover and simmer gently for about 50 minutes- 1 hour.  Add the red pepper strips, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

When the chicken is cooked, remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the sour cream and the remaining parsley. Check the seasoning and serve.