People Dumplings

[talon]

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I guess the earth dumplings post got people hungry for dumplings.

So, here are some of my best dumpling recipes for people to eat.

Quick Steamed Dumplings

These dumplings are good for chicken and dumplings, for beef and dumplings, for gravy and dumplings.

3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons shortening (I use lard, but you can use Crisco or any other solid shortening, just not butter or margarine as they are too soft)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon fresh parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried parsley)
1 cup all purpose flour

Mix the dry ingredients together and cut in the shortening until it looks like fine, mealy crumbs. Mix the milk in until it makes a soft dough. In dry weather, you may need more milk. If you substitute buttermilk for milk, trade out 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder for baking soda. Drop the dough by the teaspoonfull onto meat or vegetables in a hot, boiling soup or stew. Cook it uncovered for 10 minutes, then put a lid on and cook it another 10 minutes. The dumplings should puff up and be moist and a bit gummy on the outside and dry and fluffy on the inside.

Bisquick Dumplings

I can't make any guarantee these will still be good since Bisquick changed their formula and added soy to their ingredients. Since I cook for people with soy allergies, I don't use Bisquick anymore, but this used to be a staple for really quick dumplings.

1 cup Bisquick
1/8 teaspoon each garlic salt and Italian seasoning blend
½ teaspoon dried parsley
1/3 cup milk

Mix the seasonings into the Bisquick, then stir in the milk. Add more milk if needed to form a soft dough. Drop by teaspoosnful into boiling stew and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Put a lid on and cook another 10 minutes. Like the quick steamed dumplings, these should be moist and a bit gummy on the outside and dry and fluffy on the inside.

Regular (or German) Dumplings for Chicken

These are the dumlings I prefer to make because I like the eggy goodness of them.

3 large cups of flour
2 tablespoons lard or shortening
2 eggs
Pinch of sea salt and garlic powder
1 cup of boiling water

With your fingers, crumble the salt, flour, and lard together to make a fine flake. Now, still with your fingers, mix in the eggs. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the boiling water. It will look like its barely holding together. That's fine. It shold now be cool enough to handle again, so plop it on a well-floured surface and mound it together. Now roll it out about ¼" (or if you like it really thin, 1/8") thick. Cut into rectangles and gently drop into boiling stew or broth. Cook 10 minutes without a lid and 10 minutes with a lid to steam the dumplings well. Allow to cook a further 5 minutes without the lid.

Cooked Potato Dumplings

These are not steamed like the previous ones and not meant to be served with stews. These are side dish dumplings meant to repalce the potatoes, pasta, or rice side for a chicken or beef dinner, and, because it's German, it's served with gravy. Two dumplings is enough for most people.

about 1 1/2 lbs. cooked potatoes, cold
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup potato flour
a bit of milk
1 egg
salt
Croutons (home made or store bought - probabaly a cup's worth or so, depending on how big you make the dumplings)
half gallon of boiling salted water or broth

Rice or mash the cold potatoes. If they are already mashed, so much the better. Mix into potatoes, the flour, potato flour, egg, and just enough milk to make a dough that holds together when formed into dumplings. Wet your hands and shape the dough around a couple of croutons to make your dumplings - probably about 2 inches across. Drop gently into pot of boiling, salted water. I lower them in with a slotted spoon because they are a bit fragile at this point. They'll sink to the bottom of the pot. Simmer gently, uncovered, about 15 - 20 minutes. When they are done, they should rise to the top and float. Remove with slotted spoon and serve immediately - with gravy!

Shaggy Dumplings

There's no hair in these, they're called that because the shredded raw potatoes give them a shaggy appearance.

2 pounds raw potatoes
2 pounds left-over cooked waxy potatoes
3 eggs
Salt, pepper to taste
Flour (1/4 cup - 1 cup)

Peel and grate the raw potatoes finely, put them in doubled layer of cheesecloth and suspend over a bowl. Thoroughly squeeze out the juice, let it hang for 10 minutes and squeeze again. Grate the cooked potatoes (peeled, if you left the peel on, as for making German Potato Salad) and mix with the raw potato shreds, eggs, salt, pepper, and enough flour to bind them all together so the potato dough no longer sticks to your fingers and forms a ball. Shape into ovals and lower into boiling water. They'll sink. Let them cook, boiling gently (just above a simmer, just below a real boil) until the dumplings rise. Let them cook for another 3 - 5 minutes after the rise, then remove, drain and serve.

Stuffed Shaggy Dumplings

When you make the Shaggy Dumplings, you can put stuff in the middle: shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, pieces of cooked chicken or beef or sausage, croutons, teeny boiled quail eggs, cooked vegetavles like carrots or celery, even soft fruits like raspberries. Serve hot and with gravy as a side dish.

You can also do shortcuts with Kartoffelland, Maggi, or Panni dumpling mixes. I'm particularly fond of the ones in the little buechtels - boil-in bags - as snacks or a light meal of just dumpling and gravy. Those are pretty good, but not as good as scratch made ones.