Tex-mex chicken dumplings

Name: Tex-mex chicken dumplings
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: En
Ingredients: 1 four-pound chicken; 16 cups of water; 1 onion; 9 cloves of garlic, divided; 2 carrots, peeled and cut into quarters; 4 celery stalks, cut into quarters; 2 bay leaves; 1 tablespoon dried or 1 stalk fresh epazote, optional; 1 leafy stem of cilantro, plus 1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped; 1 can of Ro-Tel; 2 jalapenos, sliced; 1/4 cup cilantro; Juice of one lime; 1/2 cup of cream; Salt, black pepper, cayenne and cumin to taste; 1 cup cornmeal; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 eggs; 1/2 cup buttermilk; 1 tablespoon melted butter; 1 jalapeno, finely diced; 2 tablespoons of minced cilantro

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$Tex-Mex Chicken Dumplings$

Main Dish

Very Easy

35 min

Preparation

Preparation15 min

Cook time20 min

Clean and rinse your chicken and place in a large stock pot. Add water, onion, 8 cloves of garlic, carrots, celery, bay leaves, epazote and whole cilantro stem. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then simmer for an hour and a half, occasionally skimming the foamy scum off the surface.
Remove chicken from pot and turn off the heat. After it?s cooled, remove fat and pick the meat off the bones and either shred or cut into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper to taste.
-Take cooled broth and strain and throw out the vegetables as theyve done their duty. Now you need to remove the fat from the broth. If you don't have a preferred way of getting rid of the fat or lack a gravy separator, you can try the plastic bag method. Take a quart-sized plastic storage bag, pour some broth into it.
Will see the fat rise to the top. Snip a bottom corner of the bag and drain the broth, stopping when you get to the fat layer.
Place the broth back into the pot and add the shredded chicken and lime juice. In a blender, add the can of Ro-Tel, sliced jalapenos, chopped cilantro and garlic and blend. Add puree to the pot. Now add the cream. Add salt, black pepper, cayenne and cumin to taste.
Bring to a boil. And while the soup is coming to a boil, make the cornmeal dumplings.
-Sift together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Beat the milk with the eggs and add to the dry ingredients. Stir in the melted butter, cilantro and jalapenos.
When soup is boiling, turn heat down to low and gently drop the dumpling batter into the pot, one tablespoon or so at a time. Do not stir. Place lid on top and steam dumplings for 20 minutes.
Ladle the chicken and dumplings into bowls and sprinkle cilantro on top. Serves six to eight.