Chicken Soup With Cracker Dumplings

Chicken soup
Recipe for Chicken Soup With Cracker Dumplings made with home made chicken stock and dumplings made with salt crackers. Recipe with step by step pictures.

Here is an ultimate chicken soup meal made with home made chicken stock and dumplings. This is my desi take on the matzo ball soup. Since I am in India, I have no way to source matzo meal and I am too lazy to make matzo from scratch. I used salt crackers for making the dumplings and it works superbly well. I also used ghee while making the dumplings instead of the traditional schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) – now, it may not be kosher too! All the purists – please forgive me. So that’s the reason I call this as Chicken Soup With Cracker Dumplings instead of matzo ball soup.

Chicken Stock
First lets make a basic chicken stock. The ingredients in my chicken stock is really simple. I use chicken bones, water, salt and black peppercorn. That’s it. I do not add anything else while making the stock. Take a pressure cooker and add in everything and cook on a low simmer for one hour. Keep the flame at the lowest setting possible. Cook for a full one hour and ignore the number of whistles.
Tip: Cook the stock in a big pressure cooker / pan so it does not spew while whistling.
After the said one hour, remove the cooker from heat and wait for the pressure to settle manually. Open the cooker and remove any excess fat that may be floating on the top. Do not throw this fat out. Store the fat in the fridge. This can be used to make omelet, stir fry etc… Set aside. If there is very little fat, then do not bother. Just leave it in the stock.
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The dumplings
In the mean time, while the soup is cooking, lets make the dumplings. I have used plain crackers for making the dumplings. I have used nutri-choice crackers but you can use any kind of plain salt crackers you can get on hand.
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Grind the crackers to a coarse powder in the mixie. We are looking at making around 1 cup cracker meal / powder. I used about 15 crackers.
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Take a bowl and add in the ground cracker meal, salt, baking powder, red chilli flakes, Italian seasoning, ghee and eggs. The baking powder will make the dumplings light and fluffy. Mix everything to form a cohesive dough. The dough will be wet. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. The dough will become firm during the rest time.
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After chilling the dough for 30 minutes, lets make small balls. Wet your hands in water and start making small balls about an inch in size. I like to keep the balls small as it will cook evenly when boiled in soup.
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Keep the balls in a greased plate. Chill again until we are ready to use.
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Get the prep ready. Chop the chicken breast into small cubes. Chop the carrots into small cubes. Finely chop the onions and garlic. Set aside.
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Now lets make the soup!!!
Heat oil in a pan and add in the finely chopped garlic, onions and carrots. Add in a teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Sauté for a minute. Click the link here to buy Italian seasoning online.
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Add in the cubes of chicken and sauté for a minute more.
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Strain the chicken stock directly onto the pan. Discard the bones.
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When the stock is simmering, add in one stock cube and the dumplings. Add in the dumplings one by one so it does not stick to one another. Adding the stock cube is optional but it enhances the taste of the soup. Here is where you can buy stock cube online. I store my stock cubes in the freezer and it lasts for a long time in the freezer. Check for seasoning. Add salt if necessary. Remember that we have already salted the chicken stock and the stock cube is salty too!
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Cover the pot with a lid and simmer the soup on a low flame for 30 minutes. The dumplings will become big while cooking.
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Chicken soup with dumplings is ready. Serve hot. This is a complete meal and you do not need anything else to accompany the soup. This soup is our current favorite at home.
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Chicken soup

Chicken Soup With Cracker Dumplings

Recipe for Chicken Soup With Cracker Dumplings made with home made chicken stock and dumplings made with salt crackers. Recipe with step by step pictures.

  • Total Time: 2h15m
  • Yield: 4 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the chicken stock

500 grams chicken bones

1.5 litres water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black peppercorn

For the dumplings

1 cup cracker meal (ground)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red chilli flakes

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

4 eggs

2 tablespoon ghee

For making the soup

2 teaspoon vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup carrots, cubed

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

250 grams boneless chicken breast, cubed

1 stock cube

Instructions

Chicken Stock
First lets make a basic chicken stock. The ingredients in my chicken stock is really simple. I use chicken bones, water, salt and black peppercorn. That’s it. I do not add anything else while making the stock. Take a pressure cooker and add in everything and cook on a low simmer for one hour. Keep the flame at the lowest setting possible. Cook for a full one hour and ignore the number of whistles.
After the said one hour, remove the cooker from heat and wait for the pressure to settle manually. Open the cooker and remove any excess fat that may be floating on the top. Set aside.

The dumplings
In the mean time, while the soup is cooking, lets make the dumplings. I have used plain crackers for making the dumplings. Grind the crackers to a coarse powder in the mixie. We are looking at making around 1 cup cracker meal / powder. I used about 15 crackers. Take a bowl and add in the ground cracker meal, salt, baking powder, red chilli flakes, Italian seasoning, ghee and eggs. The baking powder will make the dumplings light and fluffy. Mix everything to form a cohesive dough. The dough will be wet. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. The dough will become firm during the rest time. After chilling the dough for 30 minutes, make small balls. Wet your hands in water and start making small balls about an inch in size. I like to keep the balls small as it will cook evenly when boiled in soup. Keep the balls in a greased plate. Chill again until we are ready to use.

The Soup

Heat oil in a pan and add in the finely chopped garlic, onions and carrots. Add in a teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Sauté for a minute.  Add in the cubes of chicken and sauté for a minute more. Strain the chicken stock directly onto the pan. Discard the bones. When the stock is simmering, add in one stock cube and the dumplings. Add in the dumplings one by one so it does not stick to one another.

Cover the pot with a lid and simmer the soup on a low flame for 30 minutes. The dumplings will become big while cooking. Chicken soup with dumplings is ready. Serve hot. This is a complete meal and you do not need anything else to accompany the soup. This soup is our current favorite at home.

  • Author: Suguna Vinodh
  • Prep Time: 15m
  • Cook Time: 2h

Keywords: chicken soup

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