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1
Melt the lard in a heavy-based pot over a medium flame. Add the chopped onions and sweat them, stirring occasionally, until they are completely soft, translucent, and without colour — the onions must surrender entirely before the paprika is introduced.
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2
Remove the pot from the heat. Add the Hungarian sweet paprika to the softened onions and stir thoroughly so the paprika coats every shred of onion. This is where the dish lives or dies: paprika added over direct heat burns in seconds, turning bitter and acrid; off the heat it blooms gently into a fragrant, deeply coloured base.
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3
Return the pot to the flame. Add the chicken pieces, turning them in the paprika-onion base to coat on all sides, then pour in the stock. The liquid should come roughly a third of the way up the chicken. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and braise until the chicken is cooked through and yields without resistance when pressed — the meat will pull cleanly from the bone.
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4
While the chicken braises, prepare the nokedli. Combine the flour, eggs, lukewarm water, and salt into a soft, slightly sticky batter. Press the batter through a spätzle press or colander in batches directly into a large pot of well-salted boiling water. The dumplings are done when they bob to the surface and hold their shape — remove with a slotted spoon.
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5
Remove the pot of chicken from the heat. Stir in the sour cream in a slow, steady stream, working it into the braising liquid until the sauce is uniformly silky and pale pink-orange. Do not return the pot to the flame: boiling sour cream curdles. The finished sauce coats a spoon in a smooth, unbroken film.
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6
Serve the chicken and its sauce immediately over the nokedli. The sauce should be glossy, warmly fragrant with sweet paprika, and neither grainy nor broken.