The cilantro keeps its fresh flavor in the dumplings
The minute the weather turns cold, boom! There is something specific we have to do. Clean the gutters, rake the leaves, buy a pumpkin…It doesn’t matter, but something must be done. For some people, that something is making soup.
I enjoy salad season as much as the next person, but isn’t it nice to fill your belly with something warm, and actually feel good about getting a little roly-poly? I mean, you can have salad during the work week, but I am a fan of feeling full on the weekends. That’s how I do weekend warrior (Although the warrior battle these days seems to be more a fight with the waistband of my pants. Whatever.)
Making a big pot of chicken and dumplings is a great Friday night activity, and if you play your cards right, you can have leftover chicken and dumplings on Sunday afternoon while you are watching the game. And the cooking time of over one hour might sound like a long time, but if you aren’t spending at least 2 hours at home on the weekend, then you are not having a restful, tummy filling weekend. Order a pizza.
Roasted Poblano Chicken and Cilantro Dumplings are Delicious on Cold Winter Nights
I added some cilantro to the dumplings, and surprisingly enough, the fresh flavor hangs on in the middle of the dumplings. For you cilantro lovers, this is a real treat.
I realized that I haven’t set up any good tutorials on how to roast a poblano pepper, but I will try and post a video next week. It’s not that hard, but for those that have never done it, roasting a chile poblano seems like a recipe unto itself. Once you get the technique down, you will be making up excuses to roast chile poblanos, just to get into the zen of the practice.
And pot-roasting the chicken before you make Roasted Poblano Chicken and Cilantro Dumplings gives the broth a deeper, richer flavor and color. Hearty, delicious, and an updated classic.
Brown the chicken pieces in a large stewing pot
Add water to the cooking chicken and vegetables to make the broth
Add the cilantro before you add the liquid
The dough doesn’t use a lot of liquid, but it needs to be dense.
Dumplings must be rolled very thin
Prep the corn by cutting the kernels from the cob, and roast the poblano peppers, peel, and remove seeds and stem
Pan roasting the corn and roasted poblano chiles
Gently but quickly add the dumplings. I try to add one at a time, but sometimes I get in a hurry and add them in bunches of 3-4
Hearty and filling on cold drizzly Texas winter nights
Roasted Poblano Chicken and Cilantro Dumplings
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stewing
- Cuisine: Southwestern
Ingredients
¼ cup(60 ml) olive oil
1 whole chicken cut into pieces (about 4 lbs./2 kg)
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
1 rib celery with leaves, chopped
2 qts. (2lt) water
Salt and Pepper to taste
Chile and Corn Garnish
2 tbsp. (30ml) olive oil
1 chile poblano, roasted, sweated, peeled, seeded, stem removed and cut into strips (See Recipe Technique)
2 ears of corn, kernels removed
Salt and pepper to taste
Cilantro Dumplings:
1 ½ cups (187gr) all-purpose flour
2 tsp. (8gr) baking powder
¼ tsp. (1gr) salt
3 tbsp. (40gr) shortening
¾ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup (80ml) milk or chicken broth
Instructions
In a 4 qt (4lt) or larger Dutch oven with a lid, heat the olive oil, and add the pieces of chicken. Brown the chicken well, about 10 minutes total time until the chicken is well browned all over. Add the carrots, celery and water, and then cover with a tight fitting lid. Allow the chicken to simmer on medium for about 35 minutes over medium low heat.
Meanwhile, you can prepare the chile and corn garnish. In a small skillet, heat the olive oil, add the chile poblano and the corn. Sauté over low heat for about 5 minutes, until the corn browns. (Some corn might pop out of the pan, be careful!) Remove from the heat and set aside.
To make the dumplings, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the shortening by using a pastry cutter or two knives. The mixture should resemble course meal. Stir in the fresh cilantro. Add the milk or broth and stir the mixture until it becomes a very stiff dough (you may think you don’t have enough liquid, but trust the recipe: this is all the liquid you should use for firm dumplings!)
Knead the dough with your hands for about 10 seconds on a floured surface. Roll the dough to make a very thin sheet (about as thick as a lasagna or fettucine noodle) and then cut into 2” (5cm) squares.
Uncover the simmering chicken, and add the dumplings to the pot as quickly as possible, but one at a time. Place the cover back onto the pot and allow the dumplings to simmer for 15 minutes. DO NOT LIFT THE LID! It is necessary to keep all of the steam in the pot.
After the dumplings have cooked, turn off the heat. Serve each bowl with the chicken and dumplings, and garnish with the roasted corn and poblano peppers.
Looks delicious and i will try it sometime.
I roast chile often because its traditional.
I make roasted chiles all the time, but you would be surprised how many people are intimidated by the roasting process! That’s why I posted a step by step. Thanks for your note!