Chicken and Dumplings!

Ahh, chicken and dumplings!  What a wonderful comfort food for a chilly day.  Dumplings are cooked balls of dough and they are probably as old as the earliest agrarian societies.  They exist in one form or another in nearly every continent and culture (e.g. Gnocchi in Italy, Kumperdøse in Scandinavia, Knöpfle in Germany, Fufu in Africa, Pierogi in Poland, Varenyky in Ukraine and Belarus, Pelmeni in Russia, Wonton in China, Takoyaki in Japan etc.).  Dumplings can be sweet or savory, just dough, or stuffed with fillings.  They can be boiled, stewed, fried, or even baked.

Traditional American cuisine borrowed its dumplings largely from it's British and Irish ancestry where clumps of dough made from flour, salt, lard, and water were dropped into savory soups.  None are more traditional than "Chicken and Dumplings", brought from Europe and adapted in America--famously in the Southern states.  There are as many variations as there are cooks because this is so adaptable to the ingredients at hand, but below is the recipe for my latest incarnation made with Chicken leg quarters (its richer dark meat), vegetables, and whole-wheat dumplings.

Instructions for the soup:

• 3 Chicken Leg Quarters
• 2 Peppers - Sweet (I used red because that's what I had on hand)
• 4 Carrots
• 2 Onions - Medium
• 6 Garlic Cloves
• Celery - chopped leaves and ends of the whole head that you would normally throw away
• 3 Tbsp Parsley - fresh or dried
• 3 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• Pepper - fresh ground to taste

Put all the ingredients into a stock pot and fill with water until it covers everything, bring to a boil, turn down the heat to medium and simmer for two hours.  Take the chicken quarters out, discard the skin and bones, and chop into large chunks.  Add the chicken back into the soup.

Instructions for the dumplings:

• 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour (or any other whole grain flour you prefer)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 3 Tbsp Coconut Oil (OK, OK, use Butter if you must but coconut oil is better for you)
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 cup Buttermilk or Kefir

Mix the dry ingredients, cut in the coconut oil until you have a coarse corn-meal consistency.  Mix together the wet ingredients, add to dry mix, and work into a dough.  After the soup is ready drop this dough, a spoonful at a time, into the boiling soup stirring the dumplings in occasionally.  

Serve right away with warm bread and a colorful fruit plate.  Enjoy!