A few times over the last month or so we have made chicken paprikash with homemade spaetzle and loved it. For the spaetzle I would just use my fingers and pull small bits of dough/batter from the bowl and drop it into the boiling water. It worked and it tasted good, but they were on the large side and not uniform in size.

Because we liked it so much we went on a quest to find a spaetzle maker. I didn't know if a place like Wal-Mart would, but I thought for sure Bed Bath & Beyond or Linens & Things would. Nope. We couldn't find one anywhere.

On Sunday when I was out with the brother-in-law and nephews I stopped in Sur La Table to see if they had one. I literally walked 20 feet inside the store and they had them hanging right there, like they were waiting for me.

Last night we had to try it out. Here I am filling the hopper with the batter. It turned out a little runnier that usual but it still worked OK. The pot it is sitting on is half-filled with boiling salted water. The pot in the foreground is the chicken paprikash. It turned out a little runnier than usual too, but still tasted delicious. The white balance is off in the picture because it is really a nice red color; not yellow/orange. Compare it to the bowl of the finished product at the end to see the real color.



I moved the hopper back and forth and little perfectly sized dumplings fall into the water and get cooked. It only takes a few minutes for them to cook.



Here is a serving bowl of the cooked spaetzle. I add a little butter to the bowl to keep them from sticking together. The little specks you see in them are nutmeg. All of the authentic German recipes called for a little nutmeg, so I added some and I like it.



Here is the paprikash and spaetzle in a bowl, even though you can't see the spaetzle. Notice the rich red color.



It is so delicious it is almost unbelievable, but it is so easy to make. Even on a night after a hard day at work I can get the whole thing ready, start to finish, in about 30 minutes. Both the paprikash and spaetzle.