Chicken N Dumplings

[Jizaboz]

Figured I'd share this with you guys as I was going to post it for my OTHER friend Paul (I've got like 4 friends named Paul including TDarcos lol)

This recipe is basically my "Chicken Stew" recipe, but with the option to add dumplings.

YOU WILL NEED:
(for stew)
- 1 whole chicken, thawed @ around 5 pounds
- Salt
- Pepper
- Onion powder (or an actual onion if you like)
- 2 to 4 cups of whole milk
- A stick of salted butter

(for dumplings)
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder (NOT baking soda)
- 2 cups of flour (I am currently using a generic self-rising cheap flour)
- (optional) dried parsley flakes.

DIRECTIONS:

(Stew)

1. Put chicken in a large pot; big enough to hold the chicken itself and enough water to just cover it completely. Do not add too much water, as we are making our own broth and don't want it watered down.

2. Boil the chicken on relatively high heat, covered for an hour and a half. Use 2 forks to remove it from the pot, letting it drip as much as possible. Put the chicken in a big bowl or something to cool for 20 minutes.

3. Use fork and hands to remove meat from chicken. Dispose of skin and bones.. though you may want to leave in a bone or 2 if you plan on simmering the stew a long time. DO NOT THROW AWAY water/broth.

4. Pour almost all of the broth into another container, leaving behind the last bit of it and the "goop" that will will probably be in the bottom of the pot. Dispose of the rest and wipe out the goop.

5. Shred chicken a bit by hand then throw it into pot. Add about 2 tablespoons of salt, a tablespoon of black pepper, and a few dashes of onion powder (or chopped onion cooked down with the chicken). Pour the broth you separated earlier into the main pot with the chicken.

6. Add 2 cups or a little more of milk. Add about HALF the stick of butter. Basically, you just want to thicken it a bit, have all the chicken completely covered, and make room for boiling dumplings if desired.

7. Bring heat up to a boil then bring down to low to let simmer until time to serve, or continue to step 8 and made/add dumplings while it's still boiling.


(Dumplings)

1. Add 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons of butter (melted in microwave), 3/4 of 1 cup of milk, and the parsley flakes if you have them to a large bowl.

2. Mix all of this with a large spoon until really sticky.

3. Spoon balls of this dough into boiling stew (for flat dumplings use a floured rolling pan). Note that the dough will expand a lot! A spoonful of dough can easily turn into a dumpling the size of a child's fist.

4. Cook dumplings 5-10 minutes, using a large spoon to rotate them occasionally.

DONE!