Yosemite Chicken Stew With Cornmeal Dumplings (Low Fat)

Submitted by Annacia

"Real comfort food that is good for you! How good is that? Warming and homey and kinda makes you want to snuggle into your flannel P.J.'s. I always add a bit of powdered chicken soup base to give it that final flavor boost."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 5mins
• Ingredients: 18
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• For the stew

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1⁄2 cup onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• black pepper
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups water
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen peas

• For the cornmeal dumplings

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 3⁄4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup 1% low-fat milk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

directions

1. Place chicken, onion, carrot, celery, salt, pepper, cloves, bay leaf, and water in a large saucepan. Heat to boiling; cover and reduce heat to simmer. Cook about 1/2 hour or until chicken is tender.
2. Remove chicken and vegetables from broth. Strain broth.
3. Skim fat from broth; measure and, if necessary, add water to make 3 cups liquid.
4. Mix cornstarch with 1 cup cooled broth.
5. Pour into saucepan with remaining broth; cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and is thickened.
6. Add basil, peas, and reserved vegetables to sauce; stir to combine.
7. Add chicken and heat slowly to boiling while preparing cornmeal dumplings.

8. For the dumplings:

9. Sift together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
10. Mix together milk and oil. Add milk mixture all at once to dry ingredients; stir just enough to moisten flour and evenly distribute liquid. Dough will be soft.
11. Drop by full tablespoons on top of braised meat or stew. Cover tightly; heat to boiling. Reduce heat (do not lift cover) to simmering and steam about 20 minutes.

Reviews

[one_of_t2]

We enjoyed this. Made a few changes. I sauteed the onions with some garlic, used chicken stock instead of water and didn't add any cloves as I'm not fond of them in savory dishes. Per the comments about not enough sauce I used a total of 8 cups of broth, since I doubled the recipe. Regarding doubling, that made too many dumplings and I couldn't fit them all into my pot. Next time I'll double everything except the dumplings. I'll also stick to just 1 tsp of basil as I found doubling that was a bit overpowering. Doubled, the recipe was enough to feed 5 or 6 adults. Lastly, I simplified the recipe by cooking everything, except the dumplings for about 20 minutes after boiling, then just added the dumplings and cooked for another 20 minutes. I didn't find a need to thicken, perhaps because the flour from the dumplings got mixed in the broth. Everything was cooked nicely and was less complicated not having to follow steps 2 through 7! The flavour of the stew was very good and I enjoyed the cornmeal dumpling texture. I look forward to making this again!

 

[LARavenscroft]

Made for Healthy Choices 2008 ABC (May). We thought this would be better with several changes. There wasn't nearly enough stew to feed six people - next time I would double the stew ingredients and I would also make a thicker sauce and increase the amount. There just wasn't enough sauce with the veggies - it was kind of dry. The dumpling recipe was adequate and they were good - not sure if they were right or not because I"ve never made dumplings before. I would make this again with some of the above changes. Thanks, Annacia for giving me a place to start.

 

[yogiclarebear]

I liked this one, but changed some things per other reviews and personal tastes. I did balance the veggies out more with more carrots and celery. I also used fresh cut green beans in place of the peas. Instead of water I used fat-free chicken broth and added a few cups more of it to stretch. I really upped the seasonings as well, more than doubled the basil, and added fresh garlic and some dried thyme. Boiling the chicken made it very tender and yummy. Made the dumplings a little less dense as well with a bit less cornmeal.

 

[justcallmetoni]

I really liked this one and believe that with a few small changes, it would be outstanding. As promised, it was both healthy and easy to prepare. My preparation included low sodium chicken boullion, as mentioned in the description and agree it improved the results. Would also have to agree with the previous reviewer that this was more like 4 servings than 6. My favorite part of this dish were the dumplings which were dense and filling - they are like a cross between a traditional dumpling and the top of a tamale pie. I think this dish has greater potential than my rating suggests and will make this again with a few changes. The proportions on the vegetables were a little off to me, too many peas and not quite enough of the others. I would consider adding 2 celery stalks and 2 carrots and cutting the peas in half. My other reaction was there was not enough liquid in the stew, particularly after the poaching in the first step. I would probably start with three cups and after removing the ingredients in step 2 would suggest adding 1 to 1 1/2 cups of fat free chicken broth and adjusting the amount of cornstarch accordingly. While I loved the dumplings, they are dense and others may not find them as appealing. Planning to try them with 3/4 cup of cornmeal for a slightly lighter result. I hope this is helpful and would encourage others want healthy comfort food to try this. Thanks A!

 

[3KillerBs]

The family really enjoyed this one. I had to make a few substitutions -- using chicken stock and leftover cooked chicken instead of raw chicken and water and baking soada with buttermilk because my baking powder had somehow gotten wet, but those might have made it even better. The only problems I had were that the 6 servings were decidedly optimistic for a one-dish meal. I had to double it to be sure of feeding 4. Well, 2 of the 4 are teens. LOL If you double it you'll need to increase the cooking time for the dumplings considerably.