Austrian Paprika Chicken or Paprikahendl

A treat from the time when Austria had deep connections to its Hungarian neighbours. Cooked in a more modern way.
I served it with Water Sparrows - you can find them as a sweet treat here on the blog-. Soft and pillow dumplings that go so well with the sauce. And the sauce is sooo good.

I ate that a long time ago during a trip in Austria. But I had no real memory what was in the dish. Most of the time you will find lots of bell peppers in the dish and that had nothing to do with the old ways. This is a creamy dish that is favoured by children, if you leave out the hot pepper paste and just use tomato paste. They prefer it to the Goulash that is served so often in Austria.

recipe for 3:
6 chicken thighs boneless and skinless
1 spring onion
1 red onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp Hungarian hot pepper paste or regular tomato paste
3 tbsp mild Hungarian ground paprika
2 tsp medium Hungaria ground paprika
1 tsp dried marjoram
600 ml chicken stock
salt and pepper
100 g cream fraiche
30 g flour
1 tbsp clarified butter or ghee

water sparrows:
8 heaped tbsp flour
4 tbsp water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch of nutmeg
Mix in a bowl and let it rest for 30 min. Boil a pot with lots of water and drop tea spoons batter in the boiling water. Cook for 2 min.

The chicken pieces get seasoned with salt and pepper and get browned in some ghee.
Take them out ehen they have some colour

Chop onions and garlic and chuck that in the same pan to fry off. Add paprika paste, cook a bit more and add paprika powder and marjoram. Stir well and cook a bit. Fill with stock. Bring in the chicyken and cook for 20 min on low heat.
Make the flour and creme fraiche mix, it will be a paste.
Fish the chicken out again and bring the sauce back to a boil, stir in the paste and cook it for 5-7 min. The sauce will thicken then and the flour taste disappears.
Back in with the chicken, taste the sauce season again and you are ready to serve with the dumplings.