Oli
Oli
Resident eejit. Radio4, kitchen dancing, owning recipe books to read not follow
Nov 29, 2021 2 min read

Chicken dumpling soup

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I love chicken soups, and I thought I’d written about various different styles here over the years but it turns out ( only the once ) but on a cold and miserable Sunday evening, having driven for 12 hours out of the previous 36, I was craving comfort food and the idea of adding dumpling (the stodgy kind, not the Asian kind) appealed. A little googling showed that this was definitely A Thing, so I ignored all the recipes and did my own thing.

Cooking the chicken in the airfrier is worked well. The “stock” was pretty clear until the dumpling mix went it. Next time I’ll use a dried dumpling mix, this was too wet.

You will need

  • 4 chicken portions (I used 2xdrumsticks and 2xthighs) on the bone (or with bones)
  • A large carrot (finely sliced)
  • An onion (roughly sliced)
  • A stick of celery (finely sliced) or a teaspoon of celery salt
  • A clove of garlic (peeled, whole)
  • A big spring of thyme
  • Tiniest pinch of turmeric for colour
  • A teaspoon of oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • A handful of grated Parmesan
  • roughly twice the volume of cheese of self-raising flour
  • Enough yogurt or milk to bind

Do

  • Cook the chicken for 20 minutes or so until it’s basically cooked though. I airfried it on 160
  • Strip the chicken from the bone. Make a heap of meat and one of bones, cartilage and skin
  • Put a litre of cold water into the InstantPot and add the non-meat heap.
  • Pressure cook for 5 minutes and then leave to cool and release the steam
  • Strain the stock from the bones and bits. Bin the bones and bits.
  • Pop the InstantPot on Saute mode and add the onion, celery, garlic, carrot, turmeric and oil. Fry it off for 5 mins or so.
  • Add the chicken (chopped up a bit if needed) and thyme and cook for another 5 minutes.
  • Add the stock. Bring to a gentle boil for 5 minutes
  • Mix the flour, cheese, salt and pepper and enough milk/yoghurt to create a stiff dough
  • Add blobs of the dough, maybe a heaped teaspoon or so at a time, to the soup
  • Cook for another five minutes or so, ideally keeping it just below boiling point.
  • Fish out the garlic before serving

Results

Gentle and soothing. Tasty chunks of chicken and veg, mild and warming textures. The dumplings thickened the stock, resulting in a creamy finish. My dumplings were too big and too wet, but still delicious.

Cooking bits Boiling bits GET IN MY FACE