This recipe pairs a creamy chicken stew with fluffy buttermilk dumplings. Perfect for a chilly evening!
On the Ingredients
- Worcestershire sauce is a British fermented condiment. It was invented in the 1800s by two pharmacists, supposedly trying to recreate a sauce from India. It has since become a very common ingredient in British cuisine as well as others, especially paired with meat. The sauce, which, by the way, is pronounced wooster-sheer, is made with a combination of vinegar, molasses, sugar, tamarind, anchovies, shallots, garlic, and spices. The flavor is quite unique and delicious, slightly fruity, tangy, and sweet.
- Buttermilk is the liquid left over after churning cream into butter. However, getting buttermilk this way is relatively rare in the West. Buttermilk, as we know it, is a fermented dairy product that is mainly water, lactose, and casein. It’s tangy, a little sour, and acidic. Though It can be enjoyed as a drink on its own, in America, it is more commonly used for baking things like biscuits, pancakes, and other things leavened with baking soda, which reacts to the acid in the buttermilk.
Creamy Chicken and Dumplings
Servings
6
servingsPrep time
15
minutesCooking time
45
minutesTotal time
1
hourThis recipe pairs a creamy chicken stew with fluffy buttermilk dumplings. Perfect for a chilly evening!
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium yellow onions
2 garlic cloves (minced)
4 chicken breasts (cut into bite sized pieces)
4 large carrots (cut into half moons)
1 large potato (chopped)
4 cups chicken broth
4 oz oyster mushrooms
2 tbsp potato starch
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 head of broccoli (chopped)
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup half and half
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
6 tbsp butter
3 cups flour
2 tbsp Bob’s Red Mill baking powder
1 tsp sea salt + more to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper + more to taste
Directions
- Heat the olive oil of medium-low and add the onions and garlic. Sauté until the onions begin to turn translucent, then add your chicken.
- Once the chicken starts to brown, add the carrots and potatoes. Sauté for two minutes, then add the chicken broth. Bring the broth to a boil, then lower to a simmer.
- Add your oyster mushrooms, Worcestershire, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir the potato starch into a 1/4 cup of water and add the slurry to the broth.
- Measure your buttermilk into a small bowl and put it in the freezer for ten minutes. Melt the butter on the stove.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, 1 tsp sea salt, and 1/4 tsp of black pepper together in a mixing bowl. Take the buttermilk out of the freezer and pour it into the hot, melted butter while stirring. The buttermilk will get a little clumpy.
- Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. You’ll want a wet, sticky batter. If it’s too dry, stir in a little more buttermilk.
- Add the broccoli into the soup.
- Plop scoops of the batter onto the top of the soup so that the surface is covered. Put the lid on and let the soup simmer for 15 minutes.
- When the dumplings are cooked through, turn the heat off and remove the dumpling, putting them in a dish to the side. Add the frozen peas to the stew and stir them in.
- Then, add the half and half and stir in. Serve the thick stew with the dumplings.
