Paprika Chicken, a quick and delicious dinner..

 

I found an old copy of Robert Carrier’s ‘Entertaining’ Cook book at home the other day – my Mum was a huge fan and subscribed to the monthly magazines back in the day.

This book was published in 1979, so it’s no Spring Chicken, as they say.. This particular recipe caught my eye, and we tried it for dinner recently.

As I made it, I felt as if there were too few ingredients to give a decent flavour, so I checked on line, and people had added tomatoes, garlic and other stuff to more modern versions. I decided to taste it before I added anything else and reader, it was delicious!  So this recipe is a rarity on the Eating for Ireland website  – a recipe I haven’t messed with!

I really recommend you try this recipe ‘as-is’, I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did!

EQUIPMENT:

• A large shallow frying pan
• A saucepan and sieve for the rice.

INGREDIENTS: to feed 2-4 people

• 1 tablespoon of Oil, and a large knob of butter
• salt and pepper
• 3-4 Chicken breasts, either cut into very large pieces, or left whole ‘per person’
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 Green Pepper, in small chunks
• 2 teaspoons of sweet Paprika *see NOTES*
• 250mls of hot Chicken stock
• 2-3 heaped dessertspoons of thick yoghurt – I used Greek yoghurt
• Basmati Rice to serve ( or buttered noodles)

METHOD:

• Heat the oil and butter in the frying pan.
• Toss the chicken pieces in the salt and pepper
• Add the Chicken pieces to the pan, and cook them on a medium heat until browned on both sides
• Remove the chicken to a warmed plate. It doesn’t need to be fully cooked at this stage.
• Add the onion and Green pepper to the pan, and cook gently for 5-10 minutes until softened and golden.

• Sprinkle over the paprika and stir in.
• Add the hot stock and bring the pan to the boil
• Reduce the heat, add the chicken pieces back into the pan pushing them down into the liquid, then simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes until the stock has reduced and thickened up.

• You can put the rice on to cook around now. It will keep warm while you finish off the recipe.
• Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then fold in the yoghurt until you have a wonderful creamy sauce. Spoon the sauce over the chicken pieces.

 

• Sprinkle over a little more Paprika if you like, then serve with the rice.

 

NOTES:

• I forgot that the original recipe called for skin-on  Chicken portions, so of course you can use Chicken thighs and legs for this recipe. Just make sure to brown them well all over on their initial cooking, then cook them for about 10-15 minutes longer than for skinless Chicken breasts.
• Cooking Chicken breast on a low/medium heat means that the pieces don’t toughen up during the cooking process. They will cook in the stock as it reduces.
• I used regular, ‘sweet’ paprika for this; you could use smoked Paprika, which is a favourite flavour of mine. I would definitely add less though, as too much smoked Paprika is a disaster. Try half to 3/4 of a teaspoon of smoked Paprika and see how you go..
• I used Full Fat Yoghurt – reduced fat or fat-free tends to split if you add it to a very hot pan. It is still fine to eat, but doesn’t look great.  Allow the dish to cool significantly before adding lower-fat yoghurt.
• Doubled or tripled, this would be a terrific addition to a party buffet. I’d use the chicken cut into large pieces for a party, for ease of serving and eating.
• There was enough left over yesterday (chilled in the fridge overnight) for Mr Sat. Night to have some reheated for his lunch, and it smelt so delicious I was quite jealous!