If your lucky in life you have at least a few great childhood memories with your Grandma preparing dinner for the whole family. My Grandma Arlene was an awesome cook and was always cooking for a crew (not sure if it was always by choice)! I miss her dearly but I’m grateful I have memories of watching her prepare this pot of home-cooked comfort as far back as 35 years ago. She prepared it often…mixing the dough and rolling it out very thin to let air dry. I remember her telling me ” the secret is to roll the dough thin and then let it air dry, you don’t want gummy doughy dumplins! “. I’d watch her for what seemed like hours de-boning a chicken, preparing the dough and of course getting my hands slapped for sneaking pieces of raw dough because I just couldn’t resist. I share our family recipe with you in the hopes that you make great family memories as well!
Grandma Arlene’s Famous Chicken & Dumplins
Chicken and broth:
2.5-3lb whole chicken (can use chicken breast if prefer only white meat)
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
4-6 chicken bouillon cubes
Dumplins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 tablespoons of milk
To start the chicken: Place the chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, and bouillon in a large pot. Add 4 quarts of water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer the chicken until it is tender and the juices run clear, about 40 minutes.
While the chicken is simmering you will prepare the dumplins. Mix the flour with the salt and mound together in a mixing bowl leaving a hole in the center of the flour mixture. Add the egg at the center, whisking the egg and drizzling a small amount of cold milk. Using your fork, and moving from the center to the sides of the bowl, gradually incorporate all of the egg, flour and milk. Knead the dough and form it into ball then split into two smaller balls. Dust a good amount of flour onto a clean work surface. Roll out the dough very thin, let the dough relax and air dry for at least 20 minutes.
While you leave the dough to air dry, we will move back to the chicken and broth. Remove the chicken from the pot and set it to the side to cool just a bit. While it cools go ahead and pull out the bay leaf, onion and celery from the broth. Add another cup or two of water and bring broth to a rolling boil while you begin to de-bone and shred the chicken. Set the shredded chicken to the side.
Now go back to the dough and cut into 1-inch pieces. Take a handful of cut dough at a time and slowly drop into the rolling boil of the chicken broth. Gently stir each batch as it is added. Cook until the dumplings float and are no longer doughy, 3 to 6 minutes. Once all them have been added and cooked turn the temp down to medium and add the shredded chicken.
To serve, ladle dumplins into bowls and serve with warm rolls and sweet tea.
Enjoy!!!
Click here to get the recipe for the cookies you see along side the dumplins.
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