Hungarian Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:

5 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

4 strips of bacon

1 large onion, diced

3 tablespoons paprika

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

water

1 container (16 ozs.) sour cream

Directions:

Add water to a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling , insert your chicken breasts, ensuring the water level covers the chicken completely. After adding the chicken, reduce the pot of water to a simmer rather than a boil, as boiling the chicken on full heat will result in very tough chicken breasts. Cooking time will depend on how thick the breasts are, but generally about 20 minutes would do it. 

(Note: The large pot used for cooking the chicken will eventually be used for adding all ingredients for final cooking.)

Bob's Tip: Boiling your chicken breast from frozen is possible, although this is not recommended as the chicken is likely to cook unevenly. Instead, it's best to defrost the chicken by leaving it in the refrigerator overnight. If you do decide to boil from frozen (not recommended) add another 15 - 20 minutes on the time.

In a small skillet, fry bacon until crispy. Remove bacon from skillet, but keep the grease in the skillet. Add diced onion to grease and saute' until it is clear in color, adding paprika while it is cooking.  Set aside for later. 

In another large pan, fill with water and add salt. Bring water to a boil. 

In a large bowl, mix flour and just enough water to make a sticky dough. You can always double the recipe if you're cooking for a large group. Spoon out marble size pieces of dough and drop them into the boiling salt water.

Bob's Tip: Swishing your spoon in a cup of cold water helps the dough not to stick to the spoon.

Let the dumplings cook for about 2 minutes more after they begin to float. Remove the dumplings from the pan and place in a strainer to remove the water. Let the dumplings cool.

Remove the chicken from the water, but keep the chicken stock. Cut into bite-size cubes.

Thicken the chicken stock by whisking in the sour cream. Add the onion & paprika mix. Bring the stock back up to cooking temperature. Add the chicken pieces and crumbled bacon. Add the cooked dumplings. Stir well and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat to medium and let it simmer until all flavors mix well.  Let simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.