It's Just Like Mom's - Chicken Dumpling Soup
My daughter showed me that she wanted a dumpling “this big”!
Eating a bowl of chicken dumpling soup is nostalgic for most people (Remember the New York Times Best Seller Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul or the Campbell’s soup commercial?). It is especially nostalgic for me since soups were my mom’s specialty. Often she would make a roast or turkey for one meal with the plans to turn the leftovers to soup. She often started clearing the table telling dad to “save some leftovers for the soup”. That’s what’s so great about soup - you can make it from almost anything. In fact, I throw all meat drippings in the freezer just for soup.
So for this particular batch, I cleaned out the freezer to hunt for soup base! I even made mashed potatoes the day before and saved the potato water. (And with leftover turkey and drippings, you can transform chicken dumpling soup into turkey dumpling soup with no body knowing!)
Quest for mom’s
I’ve done a lot of experimentation over the years to make dumplings just like mom’s. I particularly remember large dumplings that I had to slice just to fit on my spoon. I especially loved the dry centers. During this journey to replicate mom’s dumplings, I kept ending up with the opposite - mushy dumplings that disintegrated in my bowl into a million tiny chunks.
I worked quickly to add all the dumplings so they are cooked for the same amount of time.
Being an engineer, I had done research - make sure the soup is boiling hard, cover tightly with a lid, don’t overcook. I did all these things to no avail. They still weren’t like mom’s. After struggling through many attempts, it never occurred to me to just ask mom for her recipe. How better to replicate mom’s dumplings than to get the recipe from mom herself!? Novel idea. Now I am finally able to make dumplings, just like mom’s!
Bigger the better
Since everyone’s favorite part of the soup in my family is the dumplings, the last time I made the recipe I doubled the dumpling batch. Since you want to work quickly to ensure all the dumplings cook the same amount of time, I figured the bigger the dumpling, the quicker I could add them to the pot.
New twist
I almost didn’t make the soup because we didn’t have any carrots. Then my husband reminded me we had dehydrated carrots. We were both surprised we couldn’t tell any difference from fresh carrots.
Dehydrated carrots worked great in the soup!
Dumpling Recipe
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon dried parsley
Mix the salt and flour, then add the eggs, Stir in the water and parsley until batter is all wetted. With the soup at a hard boil, add the batter a tablespoon at a time. Work quickly to add all the dumplings to the soup then cover and boil for 15 minutes.
Bonus tip from mom: Dip the spoon in the boiling water before using it to scoop out dumpling batter and it will slide off the spoon into the pot, mess-free!