Texas Chicken Dumplins Recipes

THE BEST CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• In a shallow bowl, mix 1/2 cup flour, salt and pepper. Add chicken, 1 piece at a time, and toss to coat; shake off excess. In a 6-qt. stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown chicken in batches on all sides; remove from pan., Add onion, carrots and celery to same pan; cook and stir 6-8 minutes or until onion is tender. Add garlic; cook and stir 1 minute longer. Stir in 1/4 cup flour until blended. Gradually add stock, stirring constantly. Stir in wine, sugar, bay leaves and peppercorns. Return chicken to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 20-25 minutes or until chicken juices run clear., For dumplings, in a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk milk and melted butter until blended. Add to flour mixture; stir just until moistened (do not overmix). Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet; set aside., Remove chicken from stockpot; cool slightly. Discard bay leaves and skim fat from soup. Remove skin and bones from chicken and discard. Using 2 forks, coarsely shred meat into 1- to 1-1/2-in. pieces; return to soup. Cook, covered, on high until mixture reaches a simmer., Drop dumplings on top of simmering soup, a few at a time. Reduce heat to low; cook, covered, 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of dumplings comes out clean (do not lift cover while simmering). Gently stir in cream, parsley and thyme. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

TEXAS STYLE CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Stew chicken in a large pot, barely covered with water and chicken broth.
• Add seasonings.
• Make dumplings while chicken is cooking.
• Combine all ingredients, adding enough flour to make a soft dough.
• Roll out on floured board, cut dough in strips about 1X2 inches.
• Remove chicken from from broth.
• Combine ingredients for gravy together in a saucepan.
• Heat until thickened and add to chicken liquid.
• Drop in dumplings while boiling and cook covered 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add chicken and serve with cranberry sauce.

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Combine chicken, celery, carrots, onion, chicken broth, parsley, chicken bouillon granules, salt and pepper in a large pan or dutch oven; add enough water to cover chicken.
• Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until chicken is done.
• Remove chicken and let stand until cool enough to handle.
• Remove skin from chicken and tear meat away from bones.
• Return meat to soup; discard skin and bones.
• Add more salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
• Return soup to a simmer.
• In a mixing bowl, combine dumpling ingredients and mix well to form a stiff dough.
• Drop by tablespoonfuls into simmering soup.
• Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Serve immediately.
• Yield: 4 to 6 servings.
• *SOUTHERN STYLE DUMPLINGS (heavier and chewier) 2 cups flour, 1 cup chicken broth, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 beaten eggs. Combine flour, broth, baking powder and eggs; mix well to form a stiff batter. Drop by tablespoonfuls into simmering soup. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

TEXAS CHICKEN & DUMPLINS

Steps:

• I wash and dry my chicken.(I'm old school)The reason I use chicken legs they are usually cheap and you get a lot of flavor from the bone. Place chicken in a large stock pot.
• Add all the vegatables and spices to the pot. Remember chicken doesn't have a lot of flavor and this is your chance to flavor the stock. I didn't put an amount on any of the spices because it is really a matter of taste.
• Use one of the boxes of chicken stock and add water until the chicken is covered.
• Place pot onto medium high flame until it starts to boil. Then lower the flame and cover it. Let it cook for at least 45 - 60 minutes. Its done when the chicken is falling off the bone.
• When the chicken is done remove it onto a plate a set aside to cool
• Take a large strainer and line it wih paper coffee filters. ( I don't have one of those expensive fine mesh ones coffee filters are cheaper.) Place the strainer over another large pot or a large heat proof bowl. Pour the stock slowly through the strainer and then pour it back into the hot pot.
• At this point you should add at least 2 of the boxes of the chicken stock to what you just made. Your going to have to eye ball it.
• Now while the chicken stock is coming back up to a boil take your can biscuits and cut them into pieces about the size of the end of your thumb. Cut the flour tortillas into strips. Sprinkle a scant 1/4 cup of all purpose flour over these and toss to coat them with flour.
• When the broth is gently boiling slowly add all the dumplins and tortillas into the broth. Lower flame to low and stir gently from time to time. Don't cover.
• Chicken should be cool enough to handle. Take chicken legs and pull meat off bones and discard it and the skin. Cut up all chicken into bite size pieces.
• After you have let dumplings cook for about 10 to 15 minutes add chicken. Taste the broth at this time it might need more salt or pepper. The chicken is already cooked so you just need to let the chicken come back up to temp.
• Chicken and Dumplins are comfort food. They are not spicy by nature and can be kinda of bland. You have to learn to play with it until you get it to your taste. The flour from the dumplins can also make the broth too thick so thin it down with some extra chicken broth or milk. If it still taste too bland butter also makes for a richer taste.
• Some will turn their nose up at me not making my own dumplins from scratch. But, honey I work for a living so my Texas wife act can only go so far. LOL I also have tried different mixes and somehow the can bisquits work better. Forgive me if I misspelled anything. But, I'm from Texas can't spell just cook! Hope you like this.

TEXAS RANCHER CHICKEN -N- DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Place the washed whole raw chicken in a large pot, if you are using a whole chicken cover it with water. If you are using a package of chicken breast meat, cut into cubes raw, and pour about 6-8 cups of water over it. I don't really measure this out, but the liquid should be about halfway in your pot.
• Chop up one leek, white part only (or one medium sized onion alternatively). Add to the pot along with the chicken stock cubes and all of the dry spices, I really use about a pinch of each spice, but you should add to suit your own taste.
• On a medium heat, boil the Chicken and leek with spices until the chicken is totally cooked through. If you are using a whole chicken this will be around 1 hour, adding more water when necessary. If using cut up pieces it will be about 30 minutes.
• If using a whole chicken remove it from the broth and place in a separate bowl at this stage. You will now remove all the skin and bones from the chicken and disgard them, and put only the meat of the chicken back into the broth, you may want to let it cool a bit before handling it. If I am using a whole chicken I usually just put the breast and wing meat back into my dumplings, and save all of the dark meat for chicken salad sandwiches (different recipe). If you are using already cut up chicken for this recipe, you can simply proceed to the next step.
• Add fresh chopped celery and carrots and continue boiling with chicken. If you are using frozen vegetables, add them now and boil for about 10 minutes in the broth.
• Add cream of chicken soup and stir well, you may need to add more water, if it has boiled down a great deal. You may add as many or as few vegetables as you like. For me it depends on what I have on hand, the onion or leek is very important, but you can add any other vegies to suit your own taste. I have found that using the frozen mixed vegetables and frozen green beans turns out really yummy, and is much easier than cutting up all the celery and carrots. Either way it turns out nicely even without any extra vegies.
• Check the consistancy of your broth. It should be thick and soupy, but you want enough liquid in there to cook your dumplings properly, so add more water to suit, I usually don't need to at this stage.
• Dumplings:.
• Combine all dry ingredients in bowl, mix together well with a whisk.
• Add margarine spread and mix well with the whisk until it is combined well with the dry mixture and is crumbly.
• Add milk a little bit at a time pressing with a fork on the side until well mixed.
• You should now be able to handle the dough with your hands, you may need a little more or less milk.
• Quickly press the dough together with your hands creating a nice ball if it is too sticky dust with a bit of flour. Don't handle the dough very long, the less you handle it the lighter and fluffier your dumplings will be.
• Pinch off balls of the dough, loosely squeeze with your fingers and plop into the boiling soup. Your dumplings should be a bit smaller than a ping pong ball. Dumplings should completely dive into the soup getting totally covered with liquid then pop back up sitting on the top of the soup while cooking.
• Boil the dumplings UNCOVERED for 15 minutes in the chicken vegie broth. I repeat -- do not cover the pot while cooking the dumplings or they will end up soggy in the middle.
• Dumplings should be biscuit like in the center when done. Enjoy!