Quick and easy soup upgrade: dumplings

[metawidget]

You can turn a brothy, thin soup into more of a meal very easily by adding dumplings that cook right in the soup. You can start the whole process about 20 minutes before serving. This recipe should make 6 to 9 moist, firm dumplings and is based on the recipe from Rombauer and Rombauer-Becker's The Joy of Cooking.

For starters, ensure that you are making your soup in a pot with a tight-fitting lid, or that you have something you can place on top of the pot that fits fairly tightly — the idea is that the upper parts of the dumplings get cooked by steaming.

Sift together into a mixing bowl: 1 cup flour (all-purpose will do, cake flour will make the dumplings a little fluffier), 2 teaspoons baking powder, a pinch of salt

Add and stir in extras: A little grated parmesan or cheddar, a teaspoon of dry rosemary and/or a clove of garlic finely chopped up are all nice additions that I have tried.

In a measuring cup: Crack an egg in the cup, then top up with milk to the half-cup line. Beat a bit with a fork (to the point where the yolk is broken and starting to mix in with the milk), then add bit by bit to the batter, stirring well with a spoon in between additions. The resulting batter should be stiff and sticky.

Add the dumplings to the soup: Make sure your soup is at a simmer (slight bubbly movement of the soup, but not a big frothy boil). Scrape off your spoon, and dip it in the soup. Get a spoonful of batter and drop it in to the soup. Re-dip (to keep the batter from sticking to the spoon) and repeat, trying to drop blobs of batter in the soup so that they are close but not touching. When all your dumpings are in, cover the pot and wait for five minutes. Uncover and use a spoon to flip the dumplings in the soup. If the soup is boiling too hard or not simmering at all, adjust the heat. Re-cover and wait five more minutes. Serve ASAP.

Comments

[melannen]

You can also do similar dumplings (ohio-style!) using the same recipe, but instead of dropping in spoonfulls, roll the dough out flat and about as thick as a heavy pie-crust - 1/8 to 1/4 inch - and then use a pizza cutter to cut it into pieces that are about 1" square. Drop the pieces in the soup one by one, stirring as you go, and then cook until they're cooked through and sort of noodle-y.

These cook a little bit faster, and it's a lot easier to tell whether or not they're done all the way through. (Also, you don't have to worry about flipping them. Also, my Ohio relatives would hurt me if I didn't mention what proper dumplings are. ^_^ )

[ar]

Sounds good! My favourite dumplings are from Better Homes and Garden's New Cook Book and require something like six eggs. They're the only kind I'll ever put on top of chicken and dumplings, lol. I wish I had the recipe to share--I'll have to ask my mother for it.

[karnival]

Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I tried it earlier tonight, and it was super delicious.

[waywren]

Thanks for sharing this! What edition did you find it in? I was using the drop biscuits recipe to do the same thing.

[metawidget]

I got it from the 1975 hardcover edition. My copy is falling apart and something like third-hand, but it is still an excellent resource.

[flamewarrior]

I love dumplings! I make mine with just self-raising flour, vegan margarine, herbs and a dash of water or stock. Tasty, and if you use vegetable stock or water, it's vegan! I use these in stews :-)

[tameiki]

Hi, I just discovered this comm yesterday and have been reading it ever since. Your post caught my eye as my fiance has been begging asking me to make dumplings, something I've never tried before.

Tonight, I made chicken and vegetable soup -- with dumplings. They were such a hit! Everyone had two, some had three helpings.

Just wanted to thank you for putting this recipe up. Also for taking away my fear of making these things. I was always afraid they'd be little dough rocks but these came out very fluffy and delicious :)