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What to Eat With Dracula: Paprika Hendl

By Sara Barkat 1 Comment

Dracula Paprika Spoon

The Dracula Book Club Eats Together

In the story of Dracula, Hungarian food makes an appearance. (For a little more Dracula fun, you can join Matt Kirkland’s inbox Dracula Book Club, here and come have a spicy time reading the classic in community!)

Chicken paprikash or paprikás csirke (referred to as paprika hendl in the novel) is a traditional Hungarian dish, also popular in Bulgarian cuisine, Czechoslovakia, and Romania.

We decided to try it out as part of the Dracula Bookclub, after seeing lots of people agree with Jonathan Harker that the dish is super delicious. We took out the chicken, and the dairy, which most (but not all) versions of the recipe include.

From Jonathan Harker’s journal (in Dracula, chapter one):

We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (Mem., get recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called “paprika hendl,” and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians. I found my smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I don’t know how I should be able to get on without it. … Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour which they said was “mamaliga,” and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a very excellent dish, which they call “impletata.” (Mem., get recipe for this also.)

Dracula Hungarian recipe paprika hendl paprika chicken paprikás csirke vegetarian version with potatoes and chickpeas

Paprika Potatoes and Chickpeas

avocado oil
2 tbsp butter-flavored coconut oil
1 pound small potatoes, cut into half-inch cubes and soaked
2 16-oz cans chickpeas
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups tomato sauce (or leftover tomato soup)
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
vegetable stock, enough to cover ingredients in pot
small handful of salt
black pepper to taste
small handful of starch, to thicken

Put avocado oil & butter-flavored coconut oil into the pan with your onions. Keep cooking until onions are nice and brown. Add the garlic, potatoes and red peppers. When they have been cooking until soft, add and stir the spices (except the salt and pepper), and then add the liquids and chickpeas. Keep cooking until the dish reaches desired thickness.

Mămăligă (Polenta)

100 grams corn flour
1/2 litre of water, or however much you need
salt

Boil water with salt, pour corn flour into it. Stir without stopping until it’s gotten thick and done.

We decided to eat ours with sauerkraut as well, since we had some on hand. Of course, we dipped into our stash of red sauerkraut, because, Dracula.

Dracula Hungarian recipe, vegetarian paprikash—photo by Tamara Gak on Unsplash. Recipe and post by Sara Barkat, author of mild-horror story collection The Shivering Ground.

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Sara Barkat
Sara Barkat
I like my tea black (with a special love for Indian chai) and my novels long (give me sci-fi, fantasy, or 19th century to make me especially happy!)—though I’m always exploring beyond my known universe and will drink greens, reds, and oolongs, and read almost any genre or style that crosses my table. Speaking of the universe, I have a passion for learning about anything from black holes to the mysteries of time. When I’m not sitting by the window, sharing the sun with our little lemon tree, I can be found making lemon cupcakes and other confections, creating art (pen and ink, intaglio, and Prismacolors, please) or moving through the world on the toes of ballet or jazz dance.
Sara Barkat
Latest posts by Sara Barkat (see all)
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  • What to Eat With Dracula: Paprika Hendl - May 17, 2022

Filed Under: Blog, book club, Classic Books, Dracula, Fiction, Horror

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About Sara Barkat

I like my tea black (with a special love for Indian chai) and my novels long (give me sci-fi, fantasy, or 19th century to make me especially happy!)—though I’m always exploring beyond my known universe and will drink greens, reds, and oolongs, and read almost any genre or style that crosses my table. Speaking of the universe, I have a passion for learning about anything from black holes to the mysteries of time. When I’m not sitting by the window, sharing the sun with our little lemon tree, I can be found making lemon cupcakes and other confections, creating art (pen and ink, intaglio, and Prismacolors, please) or moving through the world on the toes of ballet or jazz dance.

Comments

  1. L.L. Barkat says

    May 17, 2022 at 3:30 pm

    This dish was SOOO good. Thank you for making it (and writing about it).

    I’m having such fun with this book club!

    Reply

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