A Peach in Stitches

This recipe was my grandmother’s recipe.  For the longest time, I was the only one in my family that could make it other than her.  With the help of this recipe, my aunt and my sister have been able to make them.

Fair warning - I was taught without a real recipe, but I will try to guesstimate the amounts.
Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken - I generally leave it frozen until I am ready to boil it. This keeps the “insides” in, they make the broth richer. You can use a thawed, cleaned out chicken if you prefer.
• Flour - I use plain old general purpose flour. You can use self-rising if you like your dumplings a bit more fluffy though - they won’t look like mine though.
• Water
• Chicken bullion cubes 8 or 10 cubes
• Salt, pepper, granulated garlic (not garlic salt).

Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Add salt, pepper, garlic, and all but two bullion cubes. Cover and boil till just about to fall off the bone.

After the chicken is done, I pull it out of the broth and let it cool enough to de-bone it. I also pull out about 2 cups of broth out for it to cool as well. I put an additional cube of bullion and some ice cubes in it usually when I make it.

Once the broth is completely cool, then you take the flour (about 3 cups) and place it in a bowl. Make a well and pour your cooled broth in it. Stir until it is a thick pancake batter constancy. While you are doing this, heat your remaining broth to a semi-boil (boiling, but not a full, rolling boil).

Next, take a teaspoon and dip it into your hot broth to heat your spoon. Then take about half a teaspoon worth of batter and drop it into your hot broth. I generally dunk my spoon each time to keep my spoon hot and about every 4-5 dumplings I stir the broth. The hot spoon makes the dumpling batter drop off your spoon very easily.

After dropping all your dumplings, let them cook for about 2-3 more minutes before adding your chicken back into the pot. Stir the chicken in and then cook it for another 5-10 minutes to warm the chicken before serving. Voila!  Chicken and Dumplings.

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