Our favorite restaurant in Reno is Daughter’s Cafe. We go there without fail every time we’re in Reno, sometimes multiple times. They’re normally open for breakfast and lunch, sometimes dinner, and for Sunday brunch. It’s just outside of downtown Reno on the West side, a couple of blocks from the river. Going to eat at Daughters is like going to someone’s house to eat – literally, because the restaurant is on the ground floor of a big house that the owner still lives in. And the food is terrific. Limited menu, not fast or inexpensive. There are usually a handful of choices, and whatever you order usually comes with some sort of homemade bread (or scone or biscuit), a salad and dessert. They serve excellent beignets, better than any we’ve had in New Orleans.

I tend to get whatever’s vegetarian on the menu, but a few months ago I finally gave in and ordered the chicken paprikas that I kept seeing on the menu. My mom made a version of the dish growing up, and it was good – something she made a lot, especially for company – but not my favorite. Daughter’s version of the dish is fantastic. It’s her family recipe and is a soupy, creamy chicken stew that’s served over simple rustic dumplings. I went on and on about it to Larry (he wasn’t in Reno with me), and now that I’ve made it he agrees – it’s absolutely delicious. Her recipe can be found on her blog, but I’m including it here to include some revisions and clarifications. Both the chicken and the dumplings heat up great for leftovers, we just kept them separately stored in the refrigerator. I think next time I’ll use light sour cream to ease up on calories. I don’t think it’ll make a noticeable difference in texture or flavor.

Hungarian Chicken Paprikas
Note: for more gravy, you can increase the water and sour cream; just keep the ratio the same
1 onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons paprika
3/4 tsp pepper
1 tablespoon salt
3-4 lbs bone-in chicken pieces
4 cups water
2 cups sour cream

Brown onion in butter until soft. Add chicken and stir occasionally for about 10 minutes. Add paprika, pepper, and salt, and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Add water, cover, and simmer slowly for 30-45 minutes; until chicken is done. Remove chicken to cool, and whisk sour cream into liquid in pan and simmer to thicken. Remove chicken from bone and break into bite-sized pieces; return to sauce in pan. Serve hot over hot dumplings.

Dumplings
6 cups flour
4 eggs
3 cups water
2 tsp salt

Put a large pot of salted water on stove to boil. Combine all ingredients in a mixer bowl and blend until the mixture is glue-like. When water is boiling, drop small spoonfuls of dumpling mixture into the boiling water. Finished dumplings will float; stir and boil for about 5 minutes. Drain dumplings and serve with paprikas sauce.

• Hungarian Chicken Paprikas (Barb-in-the-Kitchen)