Here is another Hungarian recipe. City chicken does not have chicken in it, but it’s shaped like a chicken leg. My theory is that since country people have chickens, city people have to create chicken legs by putting veal (or other meat) on a stick to form what resembles a chicken leg.
My grandma’s recipe called for finely ground cracker crumbs instead of flour, so feel free to substitute your favorite (gluten free!) cracker crumbs. She also used only pork but a combination is good and less expensive. Serve the city chicken and gravy over dumplings. Wide noodles work if you’re pressed for time. My daughter made potatoes today so I skipped the dumplings. I can’t tell you how many pieces of city chicken I ate tonight. I started feeding the empty sticks to the cats to make the pile on my plate look smaller.*
You can also skewer and dip the meat, and cut your onions and mushrooms the day before, then cover the plate of meat and store it in the refrigerator overnight.
Hungarian City Chicken
~20 wood sticks/skewers
2 lbs veal and pork chunks
1 egg
2 T water
1/2 C flour
3 T paprika
2 T avocado, coconut, or hemp oil
1 C chopped onion
1 1/2 C chopped mushrooms (4 oz)
3 T flour
1 can organic low-sodium broth
1 C half and half (milk or sour cream works too) – optional
Chop the meat into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle with sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and 2 teaspoons paprika; toss to evenly coat. Put meat on skewers leaving the end free to hold (so it looks like a chicken leg). Sprinkle skewers with a tablespoon of flour; turn them over and sprinkle the other side with a tablespoon of flour.
Whisk the egg and water in one bowl and have the flour in another bowl. Roll a stick of meat in the egg with one hand, then roll it in the flour with the other hand. When all of the sticks are done, use up the flour by touching up any sticks that didn’t get coated as well.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan over medium heat and add the meat sticks. You may have to do two batches. Brown all sides of the meat. You can set aside the meat and use the same pan, or start a second pan with hot oil and add the onions and mushrooms.
Stir and cook the onion and mushrooms with 1-2 tablespoons of paprika. After about 5 minutes, stir in 2 tablespoons of flour. Add the broth; stir and bring to a boil. Lower to simmer and add the browned sticks of meat.
Cover and cook 30 minutes on medium-low to bring internal temperature of meat to 145.
This part is optional if you want more creamy gravy: Move the sticks to one side of the pan and whisk in the cream, another tablespoon of flour, and 1 tablespoon of paprika. Gently stir to mix everything evenly, bring to a boil for a minute, and then simmer a few minutes before serving.
*I hope you know I’m kidding about the cats!
