Chicken Paprikash

This recipe basically comes from The Impoverished Student's Book of Cookery, Drinkery, and House keepery which was published in 1965 by the Reed College Alumni Association. I doubt that it is still in print. My current copy is from the ninth printing, in 1971. Through a tragic error I lost my original copy, but was able to get a replacement from Abe Books.

The Impoverished Student's Book... is very practical as well as fun to read. A typical example is as follows: "Peanut butter is the ultimate ground and initial source and spring of all life on earth. If you buy the cheapest kind and stir in the oil by hand, you will save, over the course of a four-year college residency, enough money to put yourself through graduate school." I encourage you to track down a copy.

The following is a shadow of the original recipe, but enough to cook supper.

• Cut-up chicken appropriate to the number of people you are feeding
• Onions (2 large onions per chicken)
• Garlic (3 cloves per chicken)
• Rice, quantity varies
• Paprika, preferably imported
• Salt
• Ground black pepper

Season chicken with lots of paprika, salt, and pepper.

Chop onion

Saute chicken, onion, and garlic in oil in a large saucepan.

Add a MEASURED QUANTITY of water just sufficient to cover chicken. RECORD THAT QUANTITY for reference later. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and let simmer for about an hour.

Shove chicken to one side of pot. On other side, add a quantity of rice equal to HALF the quantity of water that you added to cover the chicken. Bring back to a boil, cover again, and simmer for about 20 minutes, "until the rices have sopped up all the water."