Moms Chicken & Dumplings – Mandas Meals

I was 11 when I first learned to make this recipe, a year before I would be allowed to work the stove. I had baking duty and my sister, a year and a half older, got cooking duty. This recipe combined both our efforts and my Mother, whose hands were calloused after years of hard work and numb to the heat of the chicken as it was stripped from boiled bones. I have so many fond memories of this recipe which is my great, great, great, great grandmother’s and always felt surrounded by ancestry whenever holding the one armed rolling pin that had been passed from daughter to daughter since before my Mother was conceived. As years would pass this would be one of the staples that always brought us together as a family. Through troubled teens, divorces, children birthed and passed… my sister and I would always find ourselves at one point or another in the kitchen with our Mother making this recipe. The love that goes into this pot makes this one of the best recipes I can share with you. Enjoy.

What You Need:

1 Chicken (preferably free range)
4 Eggs
4 Cups of Flour
1 32oz box of Chicken Broth (or cans of equal amount) just in case.
5 Chicken Bouillon Cubes (or Chicken Better than Bouillon)
Water
Salt
Pepper

1 Pot (large enough to fit a chicken with room)
1 Cup measuring cup
Rolling Pin
Wax Paper
Tape
Pizza Cutter
Regular size Bowl & Large Mixing Bowl

Feeds four to six people with some leftovers.  For more people double the recipe.  Do not double the dough recipe in the bowl, make two separate batches otherwise it won’t fit in your bowl and/or on your table.

Takes 3 hours to make (approx).  PLEASE WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE AND AFTER HANDLING CHICKEN. Note that the pictures for this recipe is for a double batch. They are only there for presentation and helpful guidance.

Rinse off the chicken and put it into the pot.  Fill the pot with water until it is an inch over the chicken.  Cook on Med High for one hour or until the meat begins to pull away from the chicken freely.

This example shows two chickens.  Only do two chickens if you are expecting a large party of people.

While the chicken is cooking it is a good idea to scoop out the fat that has been boiled off and toss it.  This helps to leave less of an oily residue and possibly is healthier, I have no idea.  It just bothers me to look at it.

After the chicken has cooked for one hour (or the meat is coming off the bones) lower the heat to Low and take the chicken out and put it onto a plate.  If your broth has lessened extremely in the pot (less than two inches) add the 32oz of Chicken Broth to the pot.  Let the chicken cool off until you are capable of touching it without burning yourself.  IT IS HOT.  Make sure to wash your hands. 

Once you can handle the chicken, get your regular size bowl and proceed to de-meat the chicken.

One chicken should amount to one bowl of meat.

Once you have finished getting ALL the meat off the chicken (having removed fat and bones) put the meat back into the pot.  Dump the chicken bones and/or feed to random wild animals outside.  (I actually used to feed the raccoons.  ^.^)

Add the chicken bouillon.  I don’t recommend skipping this step.  The bouillon is mainly for color as it gives the Chicken & Dumplings the nice soupy yellow appearance.  Otherwise it will look like dirty dishwater.  If using Better Than Bouillon, I’d approx 3tbls.  The Bouillon has enough salt so just add a touch of pepper.  (If you are adding veggies like celery, now is a good time to put them in.)  Turn the Heat up to Med / Low while preparing the dumplings.

First make sure you have enough table space or counter space.  Half of a table will do.  If you do not have half a table length or a large counter you can make due by cutting the finished dough in half and rolling it out on a smaller space.

Clean the counter/table space.  Lay wax paper down on the counter/table space and tape it down.  You don’t really have to do this if you have a clean area but the dough becomes like glue when you try to clean it up with soap & water.  Taping it down helps the paper stay in place while you are rolling.

Your dough should look like this.

Take your large mixing bowl add flour, eggs and 1 cup of the broth from the pot.  Mix until the dough is slightly sticky but capable of removing from your spoon.  If it is too sticky and/or slimy add a little flour until it is the right consistency. 

Sprinkle flour onto the wax paper.

Place dough onto the flour and knead until it is not sticky anymore.  Put a little flour onto the top and onto the rolling pin so when rolling the dough it does not stick to the rolling pin.  If it begins to stick to the rolling pin and/or wax paper add a little flour to the paper/rolling pin/dough.  Roll the dough out completely flat.

Using the pizza cutter slice into thick noodles. 

Dumplings should be able to separate cleanly and look like this.

Put the noodles into the pot stirring after every batch is dropped in so that they won’t all stick together.  Cook on Med/High for 40min or until the dumplings are the consistency that you want them.  I prefer them to still have texture and be a little chewy because otherwise they soften to much as leftovers.

Add salt & pepper to taste.

Cooking for the last little bit.  Chicken & Dumplings, YUM.

If you are adding veggies, please be aware of how big the pot is.  After the noodles have plumped and cooked thoroughly there isn’t much room in the pot.  You may need to add extra chicken broth and/or bouillon.  I don’t usually add veggies so I don’t know exactly how much.  My Mother adds some celery for crunch and it is also good.

There isn’t really any way you can cut down on the time.  I’ve tried making Chicken & Dumplings with only white meat by using packaged chicken breasts, it does not turn out the same.  It is still tasty if you add extra bouillon but the whole chicken adds flavors from the dark meat and the fat that you can’t get out of cleaned chicken breasts.

Some other ideas you can use is to use the left over Turkey from Thanksgiving, given the fact you have enough turkey left over and you have a pot that can fit it.  The herbs and spices are amazing in the broth.  I haven’t been capable of mimicking the spices in a regular recipe but possibly adding some bay leaf to the water when cooking the chicken and/or basil and rosemary.  Do at your own discretion, it’s untested.

DO NOT USE LEFTOVER FRIED CHICKEN AND/OR LEFTOVERS FROM STORE BOUGHT ROASTED CHICKEN.

And please, please, wash your hands before, after, during handling a raw or cooked chicken.  It is unsanitary and unsafe for your guests, your family and yourself to do otherwise.