mommaleelee

My late grandmother made amazing dishes that meant so much to her. She poured love and pride into every meal that she ever prepared. I rarely cook without thinking of her. Chicken and dumplings, were one of my favorite dishes that she made for me. I wanted to share this recipe with others because I know this would make her happy.

Prep Work

Start off by cutting up your potatoes into small peices. Then place them in a pot with cold water.

Cut up 2 large white onions thinly sliced.

Take a large cucumber and peel off the green then cut slices very fine. Dry off with paper towel to remove some of the excess moisture.

Take 2 green onions and slice into fine peices.

Take a whole frying chicken and cut it up or if you are like me and don’t like doing this part just buy one already cut.

Tip- You really want the bone and skin left on the chicken.

First Step Sauté the Onions

Melt ½ cup of butter and add onions to a thick pot, a dutch oven is best. Sauté the onions with the butter until they are nice and soft.

Take half of them out and place in a separate bowl for later when you are making the potatoes.

Second Step Start Cooking the Chicken

Add the chicken into the pot with the sautéed onions.

At this point you want to sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and put the burner on to medium/high heat because the goal is to brown the chicken in the beginning.

Stir the chicken making sure all of the meat is covered in some of the butter and onions.

Once you feel the chicken has browned, then turn down your burner as you want it to cook slowly. The ideal temperature is a little higher than a steady simmer.

Add a little water or you can use chicken stock maybe ½ cup or so. The goal is to ensure that there is some moisture to help the chicken roast in the pot.

Make sure to cover the lid with a good seal.

Cooking the chicken takes approximately one hour. You need to keep an eye on the level of liquid in the pot throughout this cooking process.

Tip- You always want to have some liquid so have chicken stock and or water ready to go.

I usually need to add ½ cup of liquid here and there. This really just depends but I would recommend checking the chicken every 20 minutes or so and assessing whether it needs more liquid.

Third Step Start Making the Dumplings

This is my Grandmother’s bread dough recipe straight from my mom.

Just follow the instructions and it is pretty simple and straightforward. This process usually takes about an hour so it works well to start when you are also cooking the chicken.

My boys love homemade buns so I usually make about 6 of them and then use the rest of the dough for the dumplings.

Fourth Step Make the Cucumber Salad

½ cup of sour cream

1 Tbsp of mayo

1 Tbsp of vinegar

Add the diced green onions

Stir everything together and then season the dressing with salt, pepper and dill. Just add the cucumbers and mix together and your salad is ready to go.

Fifth Step Baking the Buns

Cook the buns in the oven so that they are nice and warm just in time for supper. There really is nothing tastier than warm buns and gravy!

Sixth Step Cooking the Potatoes and Dumplings

Take the potatoes and the remaining onions and butter and add into another dutch oven pot.

Then add ¼ cup of water and sprinkle salt and pepper all over the potatoes.

Place the dumplings on top of the potatoes.

Do the same thing with the chicken which at this point should be browned and cooked well.

This is now the time where you place the lids on the pots so you can steam the dumplings.

Set a timer for 20 minutes.

NO Peaking

This is the hardest part for me but you cannot open the lid and peak.

If you do not have the proper size lid for one of the pots. No worries, just seal the pot with tinfoil and put your closest fitting lid on top making sure it is sealed properly.

Make sure the burner is turned on and the temperature should be just a little over a steady simmer.

Now you just wait.

Final Steps

Take off the lids and place your cooked dumplings in a bowl to serve.

What if the dumplings are not cooked enough when you lift off the lid after the 20 minute mark?

No biggie, just shut the lid again and wait a little longer to cook perhaps it needs 5-10 minutes more.

Take your potatoes out and place them in a serving bowl.

Take your chicken peices out and place in another serving bowl.

I place all of the warm items in the oven on low. This keeps everything hot while I prepare the gravy.

Making the Gravy

Take a glass drinking cup and add warm water with a Tbsp of flour and whip together so there are no lumps.

Turn the heat up on the broiler to medium/high temperature and whisk the chicken drippings while adding in the flour and water mixture in.

You may need to add some more liquid. If so, add some chicken stock.

Now season the gravy by sprinkling on salt and pepper to taste.

Always continue to whisk throughout this process.

Tip- Do not worry if you have tiny pieces of chicken in the gravy. You can always strain them out at the very end before pouring the gravy into the gravy boat. The dogs love these little peices so I just put them aside and serve it to them for their supper.

Serve and Enjoy

The cabbage rolls were courtesy of my mom so this I have no idea how to make; however, I do plan to learn one day.

Thanks for reading ❤️