Chicken & Dumplings

Chicken soup is comfort food for us. I used to always make my own variation of noodles--or dumplings--and my husband would ask, "Are noodles expensive? Is that why you have to make your own?" I had to laugh. You make your own noodles because they taste better!

Nowadays for us, dumplings means something else entirely--but that's another recipe. These dumplings are in the Southern style and are like noodles. When you make them at home, they have a nice bite to them that the dried noodles just don't have.

Chicken & Dumplings

adapted from Trisha Yearwood's Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 5-pound hen (makes about 4 pounds cooked, after bones and skin are removed)

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup each sliced carrots, chopped celery and chopped onion

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

Dumplings:

2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

Scroll down to the end of this post for the directions to this recipe. I'll return to my regular format with step-by-step photos soon.

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I not only like to cook, I'm also a crafter. I have been busy sewing and traveling for craft boutiques. I participate in a circuit of one-day Japanese-American/Asian craft fairs, and have been doing it for over 20 years. If you live in Southern California and are in the LA area, come by the:

4th Annual Kiku Crafts and Food Fair 

Sunday, November 4th, 2012, 10 AM to 3 PM 

East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center 

1203 West Puente Avenue 

West Covina, CA 91790 

You'll find Japanese-American and Asian-themed crafts as well as delicious food. Be sure to stop by my booth and say hello.

These long-sleeved t-shirts (pictured above) will be on sale. If you say the secret word Rachel, you will receive an extra $8 off as a bonus for being a FOODjimoto reader. This is for the Kiku Crafts and Food Fair only, and there are a limited number of shirts available, so come early!

I have also been working on these shirts for the boutique sales. The embellishment is applique and sashiko embroidery. Sashiko is needlework, in the Japanese tradition, originally used in Japan to reinforce worn clothing--used here as a decorative art.

I made a few of these little quilts, too, perfect for a special baby, mom and dad, or bachan and jichan. I fell in love with this printed panel, a scene of old-time Japan, depicting the festival of Shichi-Go-San (a festival for seven & three year old girls and five & three year old boys) and Hatsumairi (a baby's first visit to church). I have a few of these quilts in different border colors, some hand-quilted and some hand-tied.

This is my booth at last year's Krafty Delites boutique. I will be there this year at the December 2, 2012 show only. Krafty Delites is located at the Carson Community Center, 801 E. Carson Street, Carson 90745, hours are 10 AM to 4 PM.

Don't forget to stop by and say hello!

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Chicken & Dumplings

adapted from Trisha Yearwood's Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 5-pound hen (makes about 4 pounds cooked, after bones and skin are removed)

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup each sliced carrots, chopped celery and chopped onion

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

Dumplings:

2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

Put the hen, breast side down, in a very large (8-quart) stockpot and add water to cover the chicken completely. Add salt and pepper. Bring the water to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer. Cover and simmer gently for 2 hours. Allow the chicken and broth to cool slightly, then remove the chicken to a colander.

Strain the broth into a very large bowl. Cover the broth and place it in the refrigerator. When the fat solidifies (I usually refrigerate it overnight) at the top of the broth, remove and discard it. Separate the chicken from the bones and cut or shred the meat by hand into bite-sized pieces. 

Heat the defatted broth in a clean pot. Add the carrots, celery, onion and fresh thyme and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

To make the dumplings, put the flour in a medium bowl. Dissolve the salt in the water and stir the mixture into the flour to make a stiff dough. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface and knead until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Divide it into 4 parts. Heavily flour a rolling pin and roll one portion of the dough very thin. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 2 x 4-inch strips. Repeat with remaining dough.

Return broth to a boil and add the strips of dough, stirring gently after each addition. When all strips are added, reduce heat to simmer and add the shredded chicken. Taste and adjust seasoning. Simmer gently for 15 minutes or until noodles are done.