Every now and then I like to experiment in the kitchen and sometimes I even come out of it with something especially tasty. These dumplings are no exception. They're tasty, comforting, and addictive!! Most importantly, if you make your own dumplings, they're actually pretty healthy.
Hope you like them!
Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients:
12 oz chicken breast*
1 med. sliced onion
2 cups sliced carrots
1 1/2 cups sliced celery
Chicken Broth
Dumplings**
Curry***
Garlic powder***
Salt ***
Pepper***
Rosemary***
Instructions:
In a large pot, cook onions on medium until translucent. Add carrots and celery and cook for 10 minutes on medium. Cut chicken into small chunks and add to the vegetables. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary, and curry and cook until chicken is cooked through. When chicken is cooked through add water and bouillon cubes or chicken broth. Leave room in the top of the pot for the dumplings. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Add biscuits (in pieces) or dumpling mix to boiling water, cover and let boil for 2 minutes, turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. Biscuits will puff up and then shrink again. Dumplings will puff up and stay big. At this point the soup is basically done. I usually taste and season some more at this point. There's no real science to it, I just add til it tastes good. I use quite a bit of curry and garlic powder. The curry and garlic are what make this dish taste so good.
*I have done the chicken in this recipe many different ways. Legs and thighs boiled and then pulled apart, chicken breasts chopped up, tenders chopped up. The best is either the tenders or breasts chopped up. I have found that the boiled legs and thighs tend to get stringy...it's good but some people have texture issues. The breast stays in pieces and makes for a better soup.
**I prefer the taste of the butter flavored biscuits to the plain ones. And the dumplings I make are basic ones that I found on line. They could have used some more flavor in the dough, so make sure you find a dough that has plenty of salt and seasoning.
*** Don't stress over how much seasoning you use. It's going to depend on a lot of factors, the most important of which is your own personal taste. I like my dumplings with lots of curry and garlic powder and pretty spicy. If you dont like it that warm then use more salt, pepper, rosemary, and other herbs. Most of all, just keep tasting and add a little here and there til it's perfect.
A final thought:
Change the recipe up!! I never go strictly off of a recipe. I always make it my own, either because of what I have in my pantry or fridge, or because I just want it to taste a certain way. Have fun with it though!!
Let me know if there are any questions. I'll try to be more clear.
