Rabbit in Sour Cream: Rabbit Paprikash with Tomato and Peppers
I remember the days of happy chaos when, being a kid, I didn't much care what sausage, patties or cottage cheese were made of. The grocery stores had Soviet abundance: 4-5 kinds of bologna-style sausage, bread on a schedule, cheese, milk in the morning, vodka from 2 pm and plenty more.
But I don't remember being able to just walk into a store any time and buy a chicken, a duck or meat. Not to mention delicacies like red fish or rabbit… Rabbits were everywhere in the form of winter hats. But you couldn't buy rabbit meat. So somebody was eating them, just not us.
As two comedians used to say, rabbits aren't just valuable fur, they're very tasty meat. The famous Father Fyodor quickly figured out that rabbits breed easily, need minimal care and are very tasty when cooked right. Rabbit in sour cream is part of our family traditions.
I, for one, like the way it's made in Hungary: paprikash. Hungary has a rich culinary tradition, including a whole category of dishes called pörkölt. That's meat cooked in a special way (beef, veal, chicken, rabbit, pork, lamb or wild boar). If the dish is stewed with sour cream, it's called paprikash (paprikás).
We don't copy Hungarian paprikash exactly. At home we make something similar, but our own way. Rabbit with paprika and tomatoes in sour cream is a great dish for breakfast on a holiday. After all, if you think about it, you could lose weight waiting for the holiday feast, and that's not what we want.
Hare needs marinating, or it will have quite a smell. But rabbit meat can be cooked right away, although it's said a rabbit should rest in the fridge for a couple of days.
We most often make rabbit in sour cream on holidays, to have a filling breakfast. Then you can sit down to the holiday table with your strength fully restored.
Ingredients
4-6 servings
- Rabbit 1.5 kg
- Bell pepper 1
- Onions 1-2
- Sour cream 100 ml
- Butter 50 g
- Flour 1 tbsp
- Sweet paprika 1-2 tbsp
- Tomato pulp to taste
- Salt, ground black pepper, chili pepper to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- A dressed rabbit usually weighs 1.3-1.5 kg. That's enough for a holiday dish for the whole family.
- Wash the rabbit thoroughly and remove the membranes and clumps of fat inside. Also remove any remaining lungs, the kidneys and other unwanted bits. Cut into serving pieces, taking care not to create bone splinters.
- Melt a piece of butter in a deep frying pan and fry the coarsely chopped onion until soft.
- Get the sweet ground paprika ready. Double-check that the paprika isn't hot.
- Add the sweet paprika to the fried onion. The usual amount of paprika for one rabbit is 1-2 tbsp.
- Fry the paprika with the onion briefly, literally 1 minute, so the paprika spreads evenly and turns the onion dark red.
- Add the rabbit pieces to the pan with the onion to brown.
- Brown the meat lightly, stirring from time to time. To keep the meat very juicy, cover the pan and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes. The rabbit will release a lot of liquid. Then take off the lid and let the liquid almost completely evaporate. This usually takes about 10 minutes.
- Add the coarsely chopped bell pepper, red or green, whichever you like.
- Add the tomato right away. When they're in season, of course, use fresh tomatoes. Out of season, canned tomato pulp, sold in almost any store, works great.
- Stir everything well and simmer, covered, over the lowest heat until the rabbit is tender. If needed, you can add a little water. But it's still better for the meat to stew in its own juices. Besides, the pepper and tomato will release liquid as they cook.
- Add good full-fat sour cream to the stewed rabbit. If the sour cream isn't very thick, mix it with the flour. If the sauce comes out thick, you can add water. The rabbit needs to simmer in a pourable sauce for a while. Season with salt and pepper as you like.
- Simmer the meat in the sour cream sauce, covered, over low heat for another 10 minutes.
- Rabbit in sour cream goes great with potatoes. For a side, I recommend potatoes with garlic and dill. It's especially good with new potatoes.
| Serves: | 4-6 servings |
| Calories: | 165 |
| Prep: | 20 mins |
| Cook: | 40 mins |
| Total: | 60 mins |
| Category: | Main Dishes |
| Cuisine: | European |
| Rating: |
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