Cooking a Slovak paprikáš in a Zambian kitchen

With me recovered from the pseudo-malarial illness, we ventured to Rhoda’s house to finally tackle the challenge of preparing a true Slovak dish for my co-workers. Some Hungarians might argue with me abour the ownership of the original recipe but let’s put cross-border culinary fights aside and say that whatever the country of origin, paprikáš is one of Slovakia’s favorite dishes.

I wasn’t sure about the recipe since I didn’t get to internet to look it up online but I had to improvise and cook/taste by memory. The dish itself is quite simple but adding the right amount of spice (especially paprika) is the main point.

You can find the actual recipe here.

I prayed through the process that my cooking intuition guides me to a successful result. A few times, I got a fright tasting the sauce and thinking it was too salty, but then I remembered that the limits for saltiness here are very different from those back home (in fact, even the sweetness threshold is quite high). I had three great helpers in the kitchen-Rhoda, Elizabeth and Grace- all of which did a great job, especially preparing the halušky, or Slovak dumplings. Although the dough is quite simple to make (egg, flour, water and salt), estimating the right consistency and forming the little dumplings can be a challenge. We mastered it well, and had enough of them for everyone to taste.

Rhoda making halušky with excellent precision 

Paprikáš!

We had some curious and hungry participants roaming around.

Final result- stomachs being filled

I omitted cooking cream since it is impossible to get in our local Spar or in the Kabanana market (I assume Zambians don’t cook with it as often as the dairy-obsessed Slovaks do). Talking about the market, it was the fourth one that I’ve been to in Lusaka. The other ones were Chipata, the huge Soweto (inspired by the Johannesburg’s namesake) and Ngombe. From all of them, Kabanana market was special for the names people called me by (apart from the obvious muzungu). The two I noticed were Diana and Maria. I assume that the former may be coming from Princess Diana.For Maria…my guesses would be that I look like a character from one of the ever-watched Brazilian or Philippinotelenovelas. Another interesting thing was to hear the flour and spice sellers who I bought ingredients from say: ‘No keep change?’ I said ‘No, no keep change’ which obviously disappointed them, and I went on to explain that I need change money just like they do. I don’t think they were convinced.

I can pronounce that the final result was delicious, and tasting almost exactly like the paprikáš that my grandma prepares. 

PS: A big lesson that I learned through this improvised yet tasty experience was that I shouldn’t be afraid of the cooking. As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way -- especially for dishes that none else in the kitchen knows apart from me and there is no general expectation other than not getting a running stomach afterward. And, as my grandma likes to say, in the worst case the dogs will eat it. Now I am ready to experiment with another Slovak culinary wonder.