Sunday, September 18, 2011

Halušky and Paprikaš

I got a text from my brother, Stephen, this afternoon (I didn't see it until late tonight) asking for my recipe for halušky and paprikaš. Halušky is standard fare in Slovakia, which is where we grew up. It's fairly simple to make, although a lot of people use potato in their halušky rather than just flour: 
  • flour
  • 1-2 eggs
  • salt
  • milk
It completely depends on how much I want to make as to how much flour and milk I put in. I want the consistency to be thick but wet, easy to drop down into the boiling water to cook. I usually set a large pot to boil before I start mixing ingredients simply for the sake of timing. Once the water is boiling and everything is mixed together (add a pinch of salt and some oil to the water), I use my halušky grater to cut the halusky into the water. I'll periodically stir the water to make sure the raw dough isn't sticking on top of the cooked halušky. Once the halušky floats, it's done. Use a slatted spoon of some form to gather the cooked halušky up.  

To make the paprikaš, I start out with a basic cream sauce:

Depending on how much you want to make, you can adjust the flour/milk ratio. For Stephen's use, he'd probably want to start out with half a cup or so of flour in a bowl. Slowly add milk to it until you can stir easily. Don't add too much too quickly or you'll end up with lumps. Add just enough at first that you can start stirring it in but that you still need to keep adding it in order to get everything wet. Once all the flour is thoroughly mixed in, add another cup or two of milk. Put it all in a pan on the stove and heat up, stirring regularly. (You don't want the milk to scorch.) Add paprika, salt, and pepper to taste. Sometimes I'll add chicken bouillon as well. (You can add chicken into this whole sauce if you'd like.) When you're finished, add sour cream to the sauce for a smooth finish.

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