Child, death is a dance on the forest floor

+ Poultry seasoning, about 2 tsp, to taste after dumplings are done

 

Remove giblets (heart, liver, gizzards) from inside chicken and discard or save for another recipe. Stuff interior chicken cavity with peeled whole onion or 4 whole green onions. Add the whole chicken  to a large (6 quart) pan, then the ginger and black pepper. Cover over the chicken with cold water. Bring pan to boil, cover with lid, and then simmer, covered, until chicken is well-done (meat falls off bones), 45 - 60 minutes. Cool and remove chicken, onions and ginger from broth. Remove chicken from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces. Discard bones, skin and fat. Save broth in pan. Cool and skim off some or most of the fat if you are counting fat grams. Don’t throw away all of it as it adds a lot of flavor! 

 

Dumplings:

Sift 4 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder into large bowl. Add 4 Tablespoons (Crisco) vegetable shortening and cut it into the flour with a pastry blender until it is fully absorbed.

Add just enough cold milk to moisten the flour mixture and to form a soft dough. Use a fork for mixing in the milk until the flour is all taken up. Knead dough softly with floured hands just until it is no longer sticky. (You are actually making biscuit dough here, with a little less baking powder than normal). Do not overwork the dough or dumplings may be tough!

On a floured pastry cloth or board, roll out 1/3 of the dough to about 1/16 to 1/8 inch thickness, the thinner the better. Use additional flour to keep rolling pen from sticking.  Cut the dough into 1 inch squares  with floured knife or pizza cutter. If it takes 2  - 3 rollings to use up all the dough, stack up on plate no more than 2 - 3 deep to hold (in refrigerator) for cooking.  These can be made up to a day ahead of time and then just cooked 30 minutes before serving time. Be sure to refrigerate, or they will turn into a lump of biscuit dough again.

 

When dumplings are all cut, bring chicken broth (saved from cooking the chicken ) to a rolling boil and add the 3 tablespoons of chicken bouillon. Taste broth to see if it is rich enough as is, or if it needs more bouillon flavor. Adjust broth volume with water or canned chicken broth to 2½  - 3 quarts.

Once broth is boiling, add the dumplings a few at a time  into the boiling broth, making sure each goes under the surface before adding another. As the pan starts to get crowded with dumplings, use a wooden or plastic spoon to push them under the broth. (This is a good place to ask an older child to help the process - they like to add the dumplings and four hands are faster than two, but beware of splashing broth).

 

When all dumplings are in, lower the heat so the dumplings are at a medium simmer. Cook, covered, for 20 - 30 minutes, stirring gently with wooden spoon occasionally,  until one of the thickest ones tastes done (no doughy  taste).  When dumplings are done, taste the broth again for seasonings and add more bouillon, salt, or pepper as necessary, plus add leafy poultry seasoning, as desired. If broth is too thick, add water or chicken broth to thin out. If it is too thin, just wait a few minutes, heat turned off and it will thicken from the residual flour. Just before serving the meal, add the boned, bite-sized chicken pieces and bring back to a full simmer to warm the chicken throughout. 

 

Serve hot in soup bowls. Makes about 15 servings.  Leftovers may be refrigerated for a few days. Add some water to thin the gravy and additional bouillon before reheating gently in the microwave or on top of the stove over low heat.