BIG MA’S CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

BIG MA’S CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
Lilly Cora Smith Shannon

I always called my maternal grandmother, “Big Ma.”

My grandfather died before I came along, and that is when Big Ma came to live with us. 

It was my sister, Shannon, who gave our maternal grandmother this name.  One day Shannon was disciplined by both her mother  and grandmother.  Shannon responded by saying, “That’s the problem in this family.  I don’t just have one ‘ma,’ I have two – a Big Ma and a Little Ma.”  

This was a favorite of her son-in-law, my Dad.

Ingredients for the chicken and broth

·        3 quarts of water

·        3 pounds of chicken meat, cut off the bone and skinless

·        1 ½ teaspoons salt

·        1 small onion, sliced

·        2 stalks of celery

·        1 clove of garlic, peeled and quartered

·        5 or 6 parsley leaves

·        1 teaspoon of coarse ground black pepper

·        1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Ingredients for the dumplings

·        2 cups of all-purpose flour

·        1 tablespoon of baking powder

·        1 ¼ teaspoons of salt

·        1 of milk, plus 2 tablespoons

1.     Bring the water to a boil in a large pot.  Add the chicken, 1 teaspoon of salt, onion, celery, garlic, and parsley to the pot.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the chicken uncovered for 2 hours or so.  The liquid will be reduced by a third. 

2.     When the chicken has cooked, remove the meat from the pot and set it aside.  Strain the stock to remove all vegetables and scum.  You only want the stock, so toss out everything else.

3.     Pour 6 cups of the stock back into the pot (you can keep the rest of the stock for another recipe, and it can be frozen).  Using perhaps a more manageable size pot, put the stock in a pot and add the ground black pepper, the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt, and the lemon juice, then reheat the stock while starting work on the dumplings.

4.     For the dumplings: combine the flour, baking powder, 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, and milk in a medium bowl.  Stir until smooth, then let the dough rest for 5 to ten minutes.  This is an important step. It allows the flour to work better. 

5.     Roll out the dough onto a floured surface to about a ½ inch thickness.  Cut into squares of about a half inch.  Use all of the dough.  Place each square into the simmering stock.  The dumplings will change size, expanding and shrinking.  The stock will turn into a white gravy.  Simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes until thick.  Stir often.

6.     While the stock is thickening, the chicken will become cool to handle.  Cut into bite size pieces.  Drop them into the pot.  Continue to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, but do not stir too vigorously. 

7.     When the gravy has reached desired consistency, serve onto plates and serve hot.