Quote from Kay on February 2, 2022, 4:08 pm

Winter is ramping up here and it's becoming even more of a "warm up your belly" type of food season.  This chicken and dumpling recipe uses "real" homemade dumplings as opposed to canned biscuits or tortillas.

Due to the length of this recipe, and because it's double spaced, it looks to be a long, complicated ordeal, but it's not.  I apologize for the double spacing.  I can't figure out how to single space on my iPad yet.

Broth Ingredients                                                                            Dumpling Ingredients

1 Chicken, cut into pieces                                                                          1 3/4 Cup Flour, plus extra for dusting

1 Onion, roughly chopped                                                                          1/3 Cup Shortening (not liquid)

3 Lg Carrots, cut into thirds                                                                       1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

3 Stalks Celery, cut into thirds                                                                   3/4 Cup Milk

8 Cups Chicken Stock or Low Sodium Chicken Broth                           1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Bay Leaf

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

Broth Instructions

In a large pot or Dutch oven, add all of the broth ingredients listed above.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer approximately 45-60 minutes or until chicken is tender and reads 170 degrees with a thermometer.  Remove chicken from broth and place on a cookie sheet to cool  Leave the broth in the pot.  Once cool, remove the skin and all bones from chicken and discard.  Cut chicken into pieces that you deem manageable for eating by spoon.  Set aside and stir together dumpling recipe .

Dumpling Instructions

Combine the 1 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, salt, and shortening with a pastry blender or fork, until shortening is mixed in fairly well.  Add milk, a little at a time and mix until well combined (you may not need all of it, but I usually do.)  You want a soft but not sticky dough.

Add dusting flour to a surface for kneading.  Knead a few times until dough is smooth.

Generously flour your surface and roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thick.  With a knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into 1 inch by 2 inch strips.  Flouring generously to avoid sticking to one another.  Let strips rest and go to next step.  HINT:  If you're not cutting near the stove, I place the cut strips on a plate or cookie sheet until I get them all cut, for transferring to stove area without dropping flour all over floor.

Remove the bay leaf with a slotted spoon.

Bring your broth back up to a boil.  Gently add chicken back into broth.  Carefully add dumplings to chicken and broth.  Allow to boil for 3-4 minutes and then turn down heat to simmer.  Allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes until dumplings are cooked and tender.

The broth should thicken on its own due to the flour you generously put on the dumplings.  If for some reason it doesn't and you need to thicken it, make a slurry by combining 4 Tablespoons Cornstarch with 4 Tablespoons water.  Stir vigorously and pour into broth stirring constantly.

If the broth is too thick, simply add more chicken stock / broth, or even water, a little bit at a time until you reach the desired thickness.  Some like thick broth while others like it thinner.

Mmm 😋, delicious!  Enjoy!