RECIPE: REC: Chicken Vegetable Soup with Dumplings (chewy-type)

[dawn_mo]

I have been making this soup and I love it, even my dumpling hating Bub. I have also been adding a herb mix that I bought at Aldi's. It is in a grinder and is called Country Herbs. It contains: Coarse sea salt, rosemary, parsley, oregano, basil, sage, mint and thyme. I really like it.

Here you go:

My Chicken Vegetable Soup with Dumplings

Soup:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

2 T butter

10 cups chicken broth or stock

4 large carrots sliced

1 large onion, chopped

4 stalks celery, diced

1/2 mushrooms, thickly sliced

2 heaping cups fresh green beans, cut in thirds

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise then chopped

Dumplings:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 T melted shortening (I used butter)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup butter milk

1/2 teaspoon salt (I used 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning salt)

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Mix dumpling ingredients and knead into a ball and set aside.

In a large soup pot, saute the chicken until just done and remove to a plate. Add the onion, mushrooms, carrots, and celery to the pot, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the broth, peas, green beans, corn and zucchini. Season with poultry seasoning, dill weed, and white pepper.

Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer. Simmer the soup for about 10 minutes.

Bring back up to a boil and start tearing off small pieces (dime-sized)of the dumpling dough and drop into soup. There will be a lot of small dumplings. Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Chop up the cooked chicken into small pieces (about 1/2-inch) and add back to the soup along with accumulated juices. Season soup with white and black pepper.

At this point, purists skip this part, I add about 1/2 cup of poultry-flavored stove top stuffing mix, to thicken. You may use any thickening agent that you want, but my family loves this version. I taste the soup at this point and add more poultry seasoning, dill weed and white pepper, if needed. This makes a lot and gets better with age.

 

[dawn_mo]

This is one of those, please try this recipe, recipe. REC: Posole with Tamale Dumplings

It turned out delish. Here it is:

Posole Tamale Dumpling Soup
Soup:
1 1/2 lbs. pork butt, cut into small pieces (or more)
1 lb. chicken breast, cut into small pieces (or more)
1/3 lb lean ground beef (I needed to use it up, optional, sausage or ground pork would be good)
1 large onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped small
4 oz canned chopped green chiles
17 oz can pinto beans
17 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
17 oz can white hominy
1 cup frozen corn
17 oz can red enchilada sauce
17 oz petite diced tomatoes
8 oz tomato sauce
2 Knorr Chicken base cubes
1 Knorr Beef base cube
8 cups water
Dumplings:
1 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup masa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, masa, baking soda, Cajun seasoning, white pepper and cumin and mix well. Add the melted butter and buttermilk and mix. Form a ball and knead a few times until nice and smooth. Set aside and start soup.
Place 1 T. olive oil in a large soup pot. Brown ground meat, if using. Add pork to the pot and brown. Add chicken and brown. Add onion and celery and cook a couple minutes. Add chiles, beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, hominy, enchilada sauce, corn, Knorr cubes and water. Bring to a boil.
Tear off small pieces of the dumpling dough and drop in boiling broth. Stir once in awhile so dumplings don't stick together. When all dumplings are in pot, turn down to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, uncovered, or until meat is tender. Serves at least 8.
This is even better reheated the next day.