Chunky Stew and Dumplings

Pendryl's Note:

This is a wonderful and peppery chicken stew that I love to make and eat. Its my fiances recipe and is guaranteed to shift a cold if you have one (atleast it does me lol) It is a house hold favourite and goes down a treat. You can change the amount of pepper in the recipe to suit your own tastes. You can substitute the chicken and the stock for what ever you like, you can use venison, beef, pork, lamb, rabbit, any meat that you might enjoy, or you can forego the meat entirly and just make a nice veggie stew. Its a recipe you can chop and change to suit anyones taste in food. I consider this to be good old fashioned comfort food and a wonderful winter dish. And it can be a great way to get some goodness into the kids without the fuss. This dish generally serves around four people, but you can add or take out to suit the numbers. (Note from my fiance): I grew up with this dish from an early age and has always been a family favourite. My mother used to make up a huge stock-pot of it and it would last us all for days at a time. So this meal isn't only a good comfort food, but highly economical if you don't have much money to spend on the richer foods.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 4.0 lrg bowls

• 3 large mushrooms
• 1 fresh garlic , bulb
• 100 g self raising flour
• 50 g beef or 50 g vegetable suet
• 80 ml cold milk or 80 ml water
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)
• thyme (to taste)
• sage (to taste)

Directions:

1. Dice the meat and vegetables into bite sized chunks or cubes and place into a large stock pot or pan.
2. Dice or crush the garlic, then add to the mix.
3. Mix up 3 stock cubes into 3 pints of hot water and pour over the mix.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste then bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Once boiled, bring the heat down to medium or low and leave to simmer for about half an hour or until the meat is thoroughly cooked and potatoes have turned soft. (you can test this by splitting the potato with a fork).
5. While the stew is simmering away, mix up the dumplings. (I generally cheat at this and use a pre-packed dumpling mix and just add water).
6. Mix the flour and suet in a large bowl with a pinch of salt, then slowly add the water or milk until you get a doughy texture. Add more flour if it becomes too wet. You're best using your hands with this.
7. Once you have the texture you want, put plenty of flour into your hands and tear off small chunks of the dough (about the size of a golf ball should do it). Roll it loosely in your fingers and then carefully drop into the stew.
8. Leave the pan to simmer for another ten minutes, turning the dumplings over once during. The flour will thicken up the stock.
9. Serve in a large bowl with some hot crusty bread on the side and enjoy.
10. Note: Don't throw out the leftovers. This dish can last up to three days. Just add more of whatever you like.

Reviews

[CJAY]

I made this tonight with leftover lamb shoulder. I used fresh mushrooms, carrots, onions, potatoes, rutabagas, corn and canned green beans. I didn't have any sage but I don't think it mattered. This was very tasty and we really enjoyed it. I used my own dumpling recipe. I cooked it in a cast iron dutch oven in the oven @ 350* for 1 hour and then moved it to the stovetop to finish it with the dumplings. Thanks for sharing a great recipe.

[Chef #201858]

ii don't see any meat listed as an ingrediient