Chicken and Dumplings
Potjie No: 1 and 3
Serves: 6
Cooking Time: 2.5 hours
Ingredients
1 Cornish hen, about 2 kg
15 ml cooking oil or piece of chicken fat
15 ml butter
1 onion, chopped
10 ml salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
4 whole allspice
6 black peppercorns
1 blade mace or a little grated nutmeg
4 small carrots, scraped
4 leeks, chopped or 6 spring onions
500 ml chicken stock or 250 ml chicken stock and 250 ml dry white wine
15 ml lemon juice
PARSLEY DUMPLINGS
250 ml cake flour
2 ml salt
10 ml baking powder
60 ml chopped fresh parsley or 20 ml dried
15 ml chicken fat (can be spooned off pot and cooled) or 15 ml cooking oil
200 ml milk, or half milk half water
Method
Wash hen thoroughly under cold running water.
Tie wings and legs into position.
Heat oil and butter in potjie and brown hen on all sides.
Add onion and sauté until transparent.
Season hen with salt and pepper.
Add remaining spices to potjie and arrange vegetables around hen.
Heat liquid in smaller potjie.
Add to hen.
Cover with lid and simmer slowly for 1.5 – 2 hours or until hen is almost tender.
Check liquid and add more if necessary as the dumplings will absorb a lot of the liquid.
To prepare the dumplings, sift dry ingredients, add parsley and mix well.
Add oil or fat and stir in milk to form a soft dough.
Arrange dumplings around the hen and replace lid.
Simmer for 20 – 25 minutes until dumplings are cooked.
Do not peep into the potjie during the cooking process otherwise the dumplings will collapse.