Soups based on chicken broth always turn out to be light and very tasty. This is ideal for diet and low-calorie nutrition, especially if it is not supplemented with any pasta. You can cook such a soup with any seasonal vegetables, such as carrots, pumpkin, zucchini, celery, herbs or mushrooms. In the summer, delicious, fresh and easy. For a more satisfying option, you can cook soup with dumplings on chicken broth, which creates great scope for culinary experiments.
What meat to choose for the broth?
The key to a good and tasty broth is fresh meat. Nothing compares to the taste of poultry, the soup from it is simply amazing, but not everyone has the opportunity to purchase it, let alone grow it. Therefore, most often we buy store chickens grown on poultry farms. Choosing it in the market or in the store, it is best to give preference to fresh, chilled, it is advisable to buy from a reliable seller. The meat of a healthy and fresh bird should be light pink or white, the skin is thin and not damaged, there should be no mucus on the surface. You can, of course, use frozen carcass. In this case, it must first be thawed at room temperature. Frozen meat most often loses its texture, ice crystals tear apart fibers, and the taste changes, and not for the better, in addition, some unscrupulous manufacturers purposefully pump the carcass with water, which, by the way, can be seen with the naked eye, through numerous punctures on the skin . This leads to significant weight loss during thawing.
Cook in whole or in part?
It’s not difficult to cook chicken stock, even a novice housewife can cope with it. But there are a few nuances that are worth knowing. Cooking broth is best done with whole chicken, and not from wings, breast or backs. The carcass must first be washed in cold water, carefully so that there are no blood clots left, as this will impede further transparency.
For a chicken weighing about a kilogram, you need 5 liters of water. The meat is laid in cold water, and then brought to a boil. It is not necessary to remove the foam that forms on the surface, since then it will settle anyway, and the broth will need to be filtered. Strong boiling should also not be allowed; the surface should only tremble slightly. Cooking on average will take about an hour or a little more. Around the same time, you can lay vegetables and spices. The best addition to chicken stock will be onions, carrots, celery. It is best not to cut the vegetables, but to cook the whole, and then remove.
If you want to get a deep amber-colored broth, then carrots and onions (whole) should be lightly baked until golden brown in a frying pan without oil and only then used for soup.
Of spices, give preference to not too intrusive tastes, for example, you can use black pepper, dill, parsley. At the same time, bright and fluffy greens can be left for serving, and the stems are cooked in broth. It is best to refuse allspice or cloves, as they will kill the delicate taste of chicken.
After the meat is ready, the broth is removed from the heat. The chicken is removed, allowed to cool slightly and divided into portions. The broth is carefully filtered - this is a great basis for boiling chicken soup with chicken dumplings (or dumplings).
How to cook dumplings for soup?
Dumpling is a traditional European invention, very satisfying flour products, popular not only in soups, but also as a separate dish, for example, as a side dish for meat. Czech dumplings or Ukrainian dumplings are their direct relatives. Most popular in our country are potato dumplings, which will be a great addition to a light vegetable soup on chicken stock. Consider several options for their preparation, as well as chicken meat dumplings. If you touch on the question of how to cook dumplings for soup from potatoes or chicken, from dough, then there are many options, each housewife selects her own taste. Someone prefers to use raw potatoes, and someone boiled. Both that, and another option has the right to exist. But in any case, the soup with dumplings on chicken broth will turn out to be very satisfying.
Boiled potato dumplings
You need to boil a dozen peeled large potatoes until fully cooked. Drain and crush water in mashed potatoes, allow to cool. Then add three chicken yolks, one and a half glasses of flour, salt and knead a homogeneous dough. Roll it into a tourniquet and cut into small pieces - these are the future dumplings, which must be boiled in salted water for 5-10 minutes, and then added in a portion of 3-4 pieces to a plate. Soup with dumplings on chicken stock will perfectly diversify the lunch menu and will become almost the most beloved.
Raw potato dumplings
The second option involves the use of raw potatoes. To do this, grate it on a fine grater and squeeze it out of excess fluid. Then add half a glass of hot milk, a glass of flour, one egg, salt, pepper to the mass and knead the dough. Gently lower the dumplings formed by the spoon into boiling water and cook for about 6-7 minutes until cooked.
You can diversify such dumplings with various fillings: from mushrooms, cheese, minced chicken. Only first you need to boil all the ingredients and pass through a meat grinder or chop finely. The soup with potato dumplings on chicken broth will appeal to children and will delight adults, it is very hearty and rich, perfect for a winter lunch.
Chicken Dumplings (knel)
They are called dumplings, meatballs, dumplings, but the essence remains unchanged. To cook them, you will need chicken fillet (breast). You can separate it from the whole carcass, which is intended for the broth. The meat must be turned into minced meat, then add onions, spices and one egg. Two options are possible. From it, you can mold the meatballs, and then lower them into the broth and cook until tender. Or, with the help of a spoon, form knels and bake them in the oven, and only then put them on plates with ready-made soup. In any case, it turns out a wonderful taste and original in appearance soup with dumplings. A step-by-step recipe for cooking will help you do everything right and please your home with a delicious lunch. No one will refuse the supplement!
Chicken Dumpling Soup: Recipe
To begin with, you should use the simplest recipe, and only then proceed with culinary experiments. In this case, it is best to remove the skin and do not use it when applying. So, given that the chicken has already been cooked, the dumplings are cooked and the broth is filtered, we proceed to the “assembly” of the soup. Ready chicken carcass must be divided into pieces and carefully remove the meat from the seeds, putting everything in a separate dish. In the future, it will need to be laid out on plates in portions. Chicken broth dumpling soup can be prepared in two simple ways.
Option one: carrots and celery were already cooked in broth
Of raw vegetables, only potatoes and onions (green can be used) are needed, since boiled has already given all its taste, it will not be needed anymore. Ready carrots and celery should be crushed and set aside for a while. Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes and put in a boiling broth, cook until half cooked, then add finely chopped onions and cook for about five minutes. Remove soup from heat, add carrots and celery. Mix thoroughly, let stand for five minutes and only then pour into the plates, not forgetting to put chicken, dumplings in each portion and sprinkle abundantly with herbs.
This soup is good in that you can add any vegetables to your taste: bell pepper, zucchini, tomatoes, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts, pumpkin.
Option two: if there is only chicken stock
Given that the whole chicken broth turns out to be about four liters, it is best to divide it into two servings, especially since it will be perfectly stored in the refrigerator and the next day you can cook fresh soup or make dinner sauce on its basis.
So, in this case, all vegetables (based on two liters: one carrot, 2-3 potatoes, one onion, bell pepper, celery, you can add pumpkin 200-300 g) must be peeled and cut into cubes.
Next, bring the chicken stock to a light boil, add carrots and cook for about 3-4 minutes, then lay the potatoes (pumpkin), celery and cook until the vegetables are ready. About five minutes before the end of cooking, you need to add the finely chopped onion. After removing from the heat, it is necessary to let the soup stand for a while and only then serve in the way, as in the first case.
Preparing chicken soup with dumplings in a slow cooker or on a stove is quite easy, it does not take much time, and it will definitely appeal to households and taste. Profitability in a set of products, a minimum of calories and a maximum of pleasure - a great combination.