When I think of comfort food this is one of the dishes I go to. It is a popular dish from the southern part of USA. It is tasty and filling and very enjoyable by lots of people and here is my spin on this yummy dish.
Chicken stew ingredients: 2 potatoes peeled and quartered
3 stalks of celery chopped
1 small onion or half of a big onion chopped if using big onion put unused half in a baggie and put it in the fridge.
1 half bag of mixed vegetables
1 pinch of seasoned salt
1 half of a chicken with the skin on and on bone you will need this to make a very good soup base deboned and skinned chicken would taste yucky unless you use chicken bullion but I prefer the chicken with skin and on bone for a very tasty truly homemade stew base. but if you want the option of chicken breast with no skin and bones then add the bullion. This method is purely optional but It is ok to your preference.
1 pinch of thyme
1 pinch of tarragon
1 pinch of marjoram
1 pinch of sage
1 pinch of rosemary
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 gallon or 4 liters of water for cooking the chicken stew base
1 pinch of peppercorns ground with either spice mill or mortar and pestle I prefer mortar and pestle.
Ingredients for dumpling dough: 4 handfuls of all purpose unbleached flour
2 tbs vegetable ghee or vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
flour for dusting if making cut dumplings
Chicken stew method: Take a big pot add oil, add onions and fry them till they are brown. Add garlic, stir and add the seasoned salt, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, sage, and rosemary, and ground pepper corns. Stir add chicken with skin and on bone or if you are using the chicken breast add bullion and skip the seasoned salt. Fry the chicken until the spices mingle with the meat. Add water, peeled and quartered potatoes and chopped celery. Add mixed vegetables. Bring to a boil then turn it down and let it simmer for and hour 1/2 if you are using the traditional method like I do with the chicken with skin and on bone. When the traditional way of cooking chicken is done cooking the meat falls off of the bone.
If you are using chicken breast, add bullion and cook for a half hour. I have put two methods on how to do the stew because some people don’t like the skin on the chicken so much and therefore I don’t want to leave anyone out.
Dumpling dough method: Add the flour to the bowl, add ghee or oil the choice is yours. Mix the ghee or oil in to the flour until it is crumbly. Take 1/4 cup of water and use a tiny bit of a time until you have a dough. The dough shouldn’t be to hard or too soft. Using a tiny bit of water to work in to the flour is recommended for the dough. Add a tiny bit of oil to keep the dough elastic and helps with the ease of rolling cut dumplings.
If you made it too soft there is not a problem then you can make drop dumplings which is using a spoon to add a tiny bit of dough at a time to the boiling stew. The stew must remain boiling at this point. If you are using the cut dumpling method you need a rolling pen and a pizza cutter. I also have a huge tray I use to keep my table and counter’s clean. I took a piece of dough and dunked it in the flour for dusting and used the rolling pen to make a thin sheet almost like I am making a pie crust. I cut the dough in to strips with a pizza cutter because this is the easiest method to cut the dough then I cut the strips in to squares and dropped them in to the boiling stew until all of the dough is used up. Also the stew with the dumplings should remain soupy.
This is a great one pot meal on a very cold day and it would stick with you. This is one of my favorites and my husband was after me to make this again for him.
After trying this out please feel free to leave a comment, thanks. Instant pot and the like method on sautè function add oil fry onion, add herbs and spices and cook until onion has browned.
Add chicken and mix it in with seasonings. Press cancel to turn off. Select pressure cook on hi and add celery, mixed vegetables, potatoes, garlic and water. Cover with pressure cook lid for 30 minutes. Press quick release button. Make and add dumpling dough with cooker on steam function.
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