Pressure-Cooker Chicken Paprika

Gayle got her second vaccine dose. I drove her again — the same fairgrounds, the same process, the same nurse who remembered Gayle from the first time because Gayle is memorable, because Gayle makes an impression on every room she enters, even when the room is a repurposed livestock building full of folding chairs and medical equipment. Gayle rolled up her sleeve and said, 'Same arm,' and the nurse said, 'That's what we recommend,' and Gayle said, 'I know, I watch the news,' and the exchange was Gayle at her finest: informed, combative, and ultimately cooperative.

The next day Gayle felt terrible — achey, tired, feverish. I brought her soup and crackers and Tylenol and sat in her kitchen while she lay on the couch and said, 'I feel like I have been run over by a truck.' I said, 'You raised a truck driver, you should know what that feels like.' She did not laugh but she almost did, and the almost was worth the terrible joke.

I got my first dose this week. Essential workers — truckers — are in the priority group, and I drove to the clinic in Grand Island and sat in a chair and the nurse put the needle in my arm and I felt nothing and I thought: this is it? This is the thing we have been waiting for since March? A needle, a Band-Aid, a fifteen-minute wait in a folding chair? It was anticlimactic. It was the most important anticlimax of my life.

I made chicken and rice soup for Gayle and chili for the family and the cooking was the processing, the way cooking is always the processing — the hands doing what the heart cannot say, the soup saying 'I love you and I am worried' and the chili saying 'the world is getting better and I am feeding you through the getting-better.' Two pots on the stove. Two messages. One kitchen. One woman who cooks because cooking is the verb form of love.

The chili was for the family — something hearty and forward-looking — but the pot that really held my heart that week was the chicken. When Gayle was lying on that couch feeling like she’d been run over, I needed something I could hand her that felt like more than food, and this Pressure-Cooker Chicken Paprika has always been my answer to that. It’s warm and a little rich and it comes together fast enough that you can have it on the table before the person you love has time to protest that you didn’t need to go to all the trouble — because of course you did, because that’s the whole point.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Egg noodles or steamed rice, for serving
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

Saute the aromatics. Set your pressure cooker to saute mode. Melt the butter, then add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Bloom the paprika. Stir in both paprikas and the tomato paste. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until the mixture is fragrant and deepens slightly in color.
Add the chicken and broth. Add the chicken pieces, chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Stir everything together so the chicken is well coated. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Pressure cook. Seal the lid and set the pressure cooker to high pressure for 12 minutes. Once the cooking cycle is complete, carefully perform a quick pressure release.
Make the cream sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and flour until smooth. Open the lid and, with the pot still on a low heat setting, stir the sour cream mixture into the hot cooking liquid. Stir continuously for 2–3 minutes until the sauce is thickened and glossy. Do not boil after adding the sour cream.
Taste and serve. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Spoon generously over egg noodles or steamed rice and finish with a handful of fresh parsley.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pressure-Cooker Chicken Paprika — The Pot I Put All My Worry Into