Every few months, I get a hankering for Hungarian dishes from my childhood. One of my favorites was Chicken Paprikash – but even though I ate meat until I was 19, I still enjoyed the delicious sour cream, bell pepper, and sweet paprika laden sauce over wide buttered egg noodles much more than I did the chicken!
Since Chicken Paprikash is usually made with chicken thighs, that’s a hard look to replicate with plant-based meat. So, I reimagined my meatless Chicken Paprikash with Quorn’s Meatless Pieces.
Quorn Meatless Pieces (I love the “Proudly Meat Free” tag line) are free of soy and gluten . . . but unfortunately they are not vegan. They contain a small amount of egg whites – and while that doesn’t bother me, I know it does bother a lot of my vegan friends.
Quorn in the United Kingdom has made a vegan chicken product for many years. It’s called Quorn Vegan Pieces, and is very popular throughout Europe. I’ve wrote to Quorn several years ago, asking them to bring Quorn Vegan Pieces to the United States, and recently saw that they have introduced Quorn Meatless Vegan Pieces. This is fantastic news . . . but unfortunately, I haven’t found them in the Charlotte area – but I’m still looking!
Unfortunately, the Quorn Meatless Vegan Pieces are not gluten-free, which perplexes me because Meatless Pieces are gluten-free. Wouldn’t it be nice if Quorn could produce a meatless chicken product that was both gluten-free and vegan? If you think so, too – contact Quorn here.
Anyway, back to my Chicken Paprikash.
Although my mom used only green bell peppers, I thought it would be prettier to use both red and green peppers.
I sautéed a fresh Vidalia onion (they are all over the farmers market right now, and impart a lighter and sweeter flavor than an “aged” Vidalia onion without green tops). Then I added minced garlic and chopped bell peppers . . .
Next, I added my frozen Quorn Meatless Pieces, cooking them for about 6 minutes, and then sprinkling them with sweet Hungarian paprika, dry write wine, vegetable stock, and organic tomato paste, cooking for another 5 minutes.
While a lot of recipes call for flour to thicken the sauce, I figured that if cornstarch can be used to stabilize whipping cream – it might also stabilize sour cream, which is notorious for “breaking” under heat. (Most corn starch is gluten-free, but do check the label of the brand you use eating gluten-free is important to you.) I took my organic sour cream out of the fridge when I began the recipe, so it wouldn’t be super cold. I mixed about a tablespoon of corn starch into the room temperature sour cream, turned off the heat, and let my skillet cool for about a minute. then I slowly stirred in my sour cream mixture until incorporated, and seasoned with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
I served my chicken paprikash over buttered egg noodles, with green beans and sautéed mushrooms for an easy and delicious weeknight meal.
NOTE TO MY VEGAN FRIENDS:
Although I used organic dairy sour cream because it is what I had in the fridge, I’ve also made this dish vegan by substituting Dairy-Free Sour Cream by Follow Your Heart and serving it over organic brown rice instead of buttered egg noodles.
Both versions are delicious so chose the one that works best for you!
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 fresh Vidalia onion, chopped (green tops removed)
- 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
- 1 green bell pepper. stemmed, seeded, and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- 1 12 ounce package Quorn Meatless Pieces (frozen)
- 2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- ½ cup organic vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons organic tomato paste
- 1 cup organic sour cream (or a non-dairy sour cream)
- 1 tablespoons cornstarch
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- Heat a large non-stick skillet, add olive oil, and sauté the Vidalia onion for 4-5 minutes over medium low heat. (I'd also suggest taking the sour cream out of the fridge now.)
- Add the chopped bell peppers and minced garlic, and sauté for another 5 minutes.
- Add the frozen Quorn meatless pieces and sauté for about 6 minutes.
- Sprinkle on the paprika, and add the white wine. Stir the tomato paste into the stock and add to the skillet. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- While the mixture is cooking, stir the cornstarch into the sour cream (or the vegan non-dairy sour cream.)
- Taste the Quorn pieces to make sure they are fully cooked. Turn off the heat under the skillet and let the mixture cool for a minute or so.
- Stir in the sour cream mixture, and make sure that it is well incorporated. The sauce should still be pretty warm, but if it isn't, you can add a little heat under the skillet to warm it back up to your liking. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and serve over buttered egg noodles, gluten-free wide noodles, or organic brown rice.
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