So the picture didn’t turn out as well as the meal really looked or tasted, but I think it is a pretty impressive presentation anyway.

The ‘goulash‘ that I grew up with was never one of my favorite meals.  It was probably the fact that it had onions in it.  If you didn’t know this about me, if you put any hint of onions in something, it would be a sure fire way to make me gag at the dinner table, literally.  I was a gross kid.

This is a slight departure from tradition as it uses chicken instead of beef as well as the addition of dumplings cooked right in the pot.  If you want crustier dumplings, make more small ones, but I think the contrast between the doughy inside and the crusty outside is best.

• 2 Pounds boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 2 inch chunks ( I used a whole chicken, but you could use all dark meat for more flavor and moisture or all white meat for less of the bad stuff for you)
• 1.5 c flour, plus a little more for dusting
• 5 Tbsp COLD butter cubed
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2.5 c chicken stock
• 1 c sour cream
• 1 large white onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp hot paprika ( or not hot, but it tastes better and doesn’t add much heat, trust me )
• 1 tsp thyme leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and lightly dust with four. In a large skillet, melt 1 Tbsp of butter in the olive oil. Add the chicken and cook on high until browned on both sides (8 minutes). Take the chicken out and leave the oil and crusty bits.
2. While cooking the chicken, get a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder, .5 tsp salt, .25 tsp pepper (use quite a bit more coarse cracked black pepper if you like pepper. I think I used a Tbsp and the dumplings had some good little peppery bites). Pulse in the remaining 4 Tbsp of the cold, cubed butter until it looks like a coarse meal. Whisk .5 cup stock with .5 c sour cream and drizzle over the mixed ingredients and pulse some more until it forms a loose dough. If you don’t have a food processor, just mix everything using a pastry blender or a whisk so that the butter gets worked in similarly.
3. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet and cook over high heat until soft (3 minutes). Add the chicken back into the skillet along with the paprika and cook for a half minute. Ad the rest of the stock and sour cream to the pan with the thyme and bring to a boil.
4. when everything is lovely and boiling, scoop some quarter cup (big spoonful) dumplings into the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked through. Crank up the broiler and broil on the top rack until the dumplings are golden.
5. Serve and eat.