Okay, y’all, I’m about to share one of my signature dishes with you guys, which is pretty good news because it is delicious!! This is a take on my Aunt Frances’s dumpling recipe, it’s her basic one, but I do it just a little differently. I have been making these things for YEARS (like since I was a teenager), and they are one of my little family’s favorites. I also tend to make these for friends when they have babies or need a special meal.
Because wouldn’t this make you happy?? It makes me happy every time!
This is not a 30-minute meal, let’s just make that clear from the get-go. This is a hardcore, made-from-scratch Southern woman recipe! And it is worth every flipping second you spend on it! Trust me. Here we go:
Ingredient Line-up
-1 medium-sized whole chicken (3-4 pounds)
-1 onion, quartered
-4 carrots, peeled and chopped in large pieces
-3 stalks of celery, chopped in large pieces
-3 cups of all-purpose flour
-2 eggs
-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
-cold water
- 1 or 2 whole bay leaves (I use dried)
-salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika
1) Start off by putting your raw, whole chicken in a large pot. A Dutch oven works great (I use my favorite Le Creuset for dumplings!), or whatever you would use to make soup or spaghetti sauce in. Make sure you remove the giblets, if there are any. Toss the giblets, except for the neck, which you can put in for more flavor, if you aren’t grossed out by a neck floating in your pot, which I am not.
2) Add all of your onion, carrot and celery, then fill your pot until your chicken is just covered with water. Drop in your bay leaf (I only use one, but some people like two) and season, season, season! You’re going to need a few teaspoons of salt for this much water, and make sure you do 10 grinds or so of pepper and a hefty shake of garlic powder. I just do a couple shakes of paprika over the top.
3) Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium low for about 30 to 40 minutes or until chicken is done. You can tell if the chicken is done if you lift out the chicken a bit and slice the skin between the leg and thigh- if the juices are clear, it’s done, if they’re bloody, give it another few minutes. If it’s a little underdone, that’s okay because it’s going to go back into the pot to simmer again. Remove chicken from pot. Let cool.
4) You can keep your stock simmering on the stove until you’re ready for it.
5) For the dumplings, you will take your flour, eggs, oil and water and mix them together. Also season with salt and pepper. You will notice I did not give an amount for the water. That’s because it varies. Start by adding about a half a cup of water. Mix it all together, and if your batter is still crumbly, add more. You want everything to come together but look like a ball of dough. You are going to be rolling this out with a rolling pin, so you don’t want it runny. If you add too much water, add a little flour. It won’t hurt it.
6) Once you feel your dough is “right,” sprinkle a large clean surface with a TON of flour. I like to line my island with parchment paper, then flour it so I don’t have to scrape dough off my countertops, afterwards. It’s a smart plan. Lay down your dough, dust it heavily with flour and pat it down into a rough circle. You may want to check the bottom to make sure it’s not sticking and add more flour if it is.
7) Roll out your dough to about 1/8″ thickness with a rolling pin, continually dusting sticky spots with flour. Once it’s rolled out (probably about 2′ x 2′) let it SIT THERE for about 15 minutes. If you don’t, your dough will shrink up and really make you mad.
While your dough sits, remove the celery, onion and carrot from your stock with a strainer or slotted spoon. Save the carrots, but toss the rest.
9) Go ahead and take the skin off your cooled chicken and peel the meat off the bone. You’ll want bite-size pieces of chicken. Once you do that, chop your carrots into small pieces, as well. Set aside.
10) Cut your dumplings. Take my advice and use a pizza cutter for this, as it saves about an eternity of time. Cut your dumplings into about 1 1/2″ squares (you can go bigger or smaller as you prefer- it’s not science).
11) Turn up the heat on your stock to high until it boils, then turn it down to medium high. You’re ready to drop your dumplings!
12) Pick up your dumplings a handful at a time (you can stack them atop one another) and drop them one-at-a-time into the stock so they don’t stick to each other. After each handful, give them a loose stir. Keep going until all of your dumplings are in.
** If some of your dumpling stick, that’s okay. You don’t have to get each one into the pot at the risk of losing your mind. I generally lose 5 or 6 to stickage.**
13) Once all of your dumplings are in the pot, stir then every few minutes so they don’t stick, but let them simmer for a good 15 minutes. Then, drop in your chicken and carrots and stir it all together.
14) Taste your broth. Re-season. If it’s too thick, add a bit of water or canned broth. If it’s too thin, don’t worry, it will thicken up in a few minutes. If it doesn’t, just mix together a few spoonfulls of flour with some water in a cup to make a runny paste, then whisk it into your sauce- it will thicken right up. You want some juice, though, because you can soak it up with crusty bread!
15) Let all of your ingredients simmer together for five minutes or so over medium heat. Keep stirring so they don’t stick, but don’t chop at them.
16) Eat them. They’re good.
Let me know if you attempt this dish (I promise it’s not as complicated as I made it sound!)- I hope you enjoy it!!
{ 18 comments }
I’m so thankful this baby looks okay. We would really appreciate any prayers you could send our way for this bleeding to subside and for a healthy rest of the pregnancy!
