Keep the winter chills away with a warm, hearty chicken and dumpling potjie.
Serves 6
Cooking Time: 2.5 hours
Ingredients
- 1 x 2 kg chicken, cornish hen or chicken pieces
- 15 ml olive oil, cooking oil or a 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
Dumplings
- 500g maize flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- water
Instructions
- Wash chicken thoroughly under cold running water.
- Tie wings and legs into position.
- Heat oil and butter in potjie and brown chicken on all sides.
- Add onion and sauté until transparent.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper.
- Add remaining spices to potjie and arrange vegetables around chicken.
- Heat liquid in smaller potjie. Add to chicken.
- Cover with lid and simmer slowly for 1.5 – 2 hours or until chicken is almost tender.
- Check liquid and add more if necessary as the dumplings will absorb a lot of the liquid.
Instructions for Dumplings
- Mix flour, baking powder and salt together.
- Add enough water to form a dough.
- Knead until smooth, cover with plastic wrap or a damp dishtowel and leave to proof for 35 minutes.
- Break off balls of the dough and drop into chicken stew and cook for 15 minutes.
Recipe Courtesy of Potjiekos World and Hayden Quinn