Chicken Gulash, Váljék kedves egészségére

Váljék kedves egészségére (pronounced VAH-lyake KEHD-vesh EH-gase-shay-reh) means "To your health" in Hungarian.  My husband's family are German, but come from a part of the former Yugoslavia known as the Donauschwabe.  Because of it's situation on the Danube river, the culture there was influenced as much by German custom as by neighboring Serbian and Hungarian ways.  This is most particularly illustrated in their food.
Michael's Opa was a master butcher and brought many recipes to America with him for sausages, serbian, german and hungarian.  The Chicago Tribune once named him the Sausage Man of Western Avenue, where his fabulous meat shop was located.  Unfortunately the shop has closed, but we're hoping to take a crack at his famous cevapcici next summer.  I'll let you know how that goes.

In the mean time, My Mother in Law Sigrid has very graciously supplied me with the Fless family recipe for Chicken Gulash, there are notes on how to use beef or pork at the end.  This is one of my favorite treats,

Chicken Gulash

cut up Chicken (whole chicken, or breasts and drumsticks)
3 or 4 large onions, diced
4tablespoons paprika (use good Hungarian paprika, not McCormick's, half sweet, half sharp if you like a little spice)
2 carrots sliced
1/2 green pepper
1 stalk celery, cut fine
8oz can tomato sauce

saute onion in 2-3 tablespoons olive oil until golden transparent.  add the chicken and turn until meat is sealed (browned)
add the paprika. add water to barely cover the chicken.add the tomato sauce and vegetables.  let water simmer with chicken to reduce until
chicken is tender, about an hour.  It should not be too soupy. careful not to burn.  the paprika thickens the sauce, and the onions help make the sauce.

To make gulash With beef or pork (stew beef or pork shoulder cut to about 1" chunks), add potatoes right in with the beef, as they soften and dissolve they add to the thickness of the gravy. 
You can make Szegediner gulash by cooking a bag of sauerkraut with it and serving with a dollup of sour cream.

Serve gulash with rice or potatoes, or spatzle, or spoon dumplings.