Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Southern-Style rolled out Chicken and Dumplings

I have to say, I do miss things like chicken and dumplings (dump-lins). And I don't mean those biscuit dough balls that sit on top of a cream of something with some chicken bits thrown it. No, I mean the real ones that you have to roll out, then cut in to vague noodle form and put in to a pot of seasoned chicken stock--the kind my great-grandmother made every family get together. (They could never be as good as those, but I tried hard enough)

Gather together:
4-chicken bits (4 breast, thighs, boneless or whatever you prefer)
3-5 carrots
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
bay leaves

for the dumplings
1.5 c. flour
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 tsp salt
3 tbs cold water
2 tbs butter
2 tsp basking soda

In a large stock pot, add chicken bits, a bay leaf & some salt and cover with water. Boil this for about 30 minutes or until chicken is cook completely. Remove the chicken and allow it to cool so you can de-bone & shred it. Remove any chicken scum that floated to the top.
Add the vegetables and continue cooking over medium heat.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, cut the butter into flour, baking soda & salt. Next, add the eggs and the water until a dough ball forms. Then kneed the dough until you get a smooth consistency. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut in to 1/2 inch by 4 inch strips.






Starting adding the dumplings in to the slow boiling pot of chicken stock one at a time. Resist the urge to stir. Keep adding until all of them are added. Then slowly, with a wooden spoon stir, just to make sure none of the dumplings are stuck to the bottom. Turn down the heat to medium-low. Add the chicken back to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 more minutes. Ta-da. (If you like it to be thicker, you can add corn starch, flour or heavy cream) Allow to cool in bowls for a few minutes before serving. Add parsley for garnish.



Serve with with bread, crackers or corn bread. This is so true southern cookin'!

4 comments:

  1. I had a good ole second helpin' o' this. Yummy!

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  2. I made this last night, and it was yummy! Coupla things, though--1.5 cups of flour was nowhere near enough to have something capable of being kneaded or rolled. Or did you mean to add only enough egg-and-water mixture to make dough rather than batter? I also didn't have nearly enough liquid. When you said to cover the chicken with water, I assumed you mean just barely--I think that was wrong.
    I'm not trying to be a pain, just thought you could maybe revise your recipe to make it clearer. This was incredibly yummy--thanks for sharing!

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  3. Mine turned out fine with just the 1.5 c of flour and the 2 eggs and 3 tbs of water. I used large eggs, I am not sure if that matters or not.

    Also, when you boil chicken, you add as much water as you want for broth. I used a whole chicken (which is roughly 4 pieces--it was a small chicken) so I gauged my water accordingly. However, if you used 4 frozen, boneless chicken boobs, you will need to add more water than what will just cover them, since they lay flat in the pan. You can also add more chicken stock (from a box or can) as you see fit. It really depends on how many people you plan on feeding.

    I hope that helps.

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  4. It turned out great!!! Thanks so much for this. I looked everywhere for a rolled out dumpling recipe, and this is the only one that I found that looked good. AND.. it was. :)

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