My Best Friend’s Mom’s Paprikash

There is a meal that everyone loves, and they are not macaroni with cheese. It’s not even my own recipe! It is the fungal paprika of my best friend of my best friend.

I got hooked in this meal in my veins, when I began to do it with my best friend, Chrissy, who learned from her mother, Monika, who learned to do it as a child in Slovakia. “Traditionally, Paprikash is made with chicken,” Monika told me. “But in the old days, behind the iron curtain, we did not have meat most of the days, so people used what was available. In summer, if it were a good day, all the children went out to the forest and gathered fungi. This is how Paprikash of fungi arose. And it was wonderful! “

It is still. That is why I follow Monika’s version. I still have its instructions saved in a text message of a decade, which I can now recite from the memory (although I have copied it in my application of notes just in case). It is the favorite winter food of our family, by far, but I will expel it easily in July. Monika Paprikash has a 100%success rate, even with my preschool, even When he is sick and I have to beg him to consider a palette. She will voluntarily dehydrate before my eyes, but if you see me cut fungi, raise your hands and shout: “Paprikashhh!” And then his father enters and says: “Paprikash?” And then seat and we all sing the word “Paprikash” because it is also fun to say it. The food puts everyone in a good mood, until someone eats the last portion without asking, and then we are all grumpy and some of us cry. All this to say: do a favor and double the recipe.

Monika fungal paphash
It serves 3-4

1 median yellow onion, finely cut or grated
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
1-2+ tablespoons of sweet paprika (Monika recommends a Hungarian paprika, like this)**
16 oz monstructions (beautiful baby/cremini/brown), in thin slices
Salt, to taste
1+ cups of sour cream
Egg noodles or spaetzle **, to serve

Add olive oil to a large pan or Dutch oven (enough to cover the bottom) and turn the fire half-low. Add the onion and jump until it begins to become translucent and gold. Then add the paprika (see below!) And turn low heat. Monika suggests adding a small water splash here, to ensure that the paprika does not burn. This is rule #1: Don’t let the paprika burn! Keep low heat from here out and watch the pan to make sure the paprika does not start darkening.

Add the mushrooms and quickly revive them in the onion mixture so that they are well covered and skip, stirring frequently. It can increase the heat a little once the mushrooms have released their liquid, but be careful not to let it go completely (again: not burn the paprika!).

Once the mushrooms are pleasant and soft, remove the pan of the fire and give it a fast flavor. “Sometimes I add some salt here, if you need it, but only after everything is cooked,” says Monika. For your information, this is another key to the recipe. I accidentally added the salt too early before, and noticed that the fungi do not release so much liquid, an element of important flavor.

Add the sour cream, adding more as necessary. You want it a little thicker than a sauce, more like the consistency of the yogurt of whole milk. Boil your egg noodles or spaetzle, and serve under a good tablespoon of paprika. (Be sure to leave some per second).

*As for the amount of Paprika adding to the pan, it is not an exact science. Usually, I start with a full spoonful, which seems a lot, but inevitably add another (more). In my experience, it is quite difficult to add too much. In case of doubt, Monika says: “You want enough to do it red.”

** Paprikash is traditionally served in Spaetzle, which I have never done, although it looks delicious. Monika says it’s fine to be flexible here. “Egg noodles or any similar short paste will do it!”

Thank you very much for sharing this precious family recipe with me! An excellent recipe that has caught the mother of another person?

PS: The #1 thing that we would tell the new parents about the family dinner, and what are five recipes in their arsenal?