Beer Braised Cilantro Chicken Dumpling (or anything) Stew

Wait, what? it's Friday already? Gosh this week just flew past!

How are you all doing? Anyone down with the flu? I heard it's especially nasty this year. Stay warm  and well my friends!

We decided to skip getting flu shots this time, after having been sick immediately after getting the shot for the last two years. So I'm being extra careful. I caught my self edging away from people who sniffle! I have even become one of those people who carries around a clip-on bottle of hand sanitizer (!).

In spite of all this, in case we do succumb to those dastardly bugs (very likely because we have a germ magnet of a three year old who loves to share) I have stocked up on my homeo supply and will be making steaming mugs of masala chai, pepper soups and this stew. Guaranteed to make bleak and depressing days better. Why? because it's chicken stew and it has beer in it.

I'm not too much of a beer drinker, and would much rather sip a glass of wine. But every time the hubs brings home a case of beer, I squirrel away a couple of bottles to cook with. Beer tops wine in cooking, I think and adds a lovely hearty, malty flavor to everything. From pouring onto slow cooking meat, baking super easy beer bread and this chicken soup/stew, I love the many ways that beer can be used in the kitchen.

With the Superbowl this week end I am sure many of you will end up with more beer bottles than you could possibly drink. Use them well.

And while we are talking about the Super Bowl, I felt compelled to share some Super Bowl friendly food ideas:

Grilled Chicken Wings Indian Style
Melted Brie and Bruschetta Dip
Better than popcorn-spicy rice crispies and nut mix
Skillet Pizza with no knead 5 minute dough 
Garam Masala Pulled Pork- feed a crowd!
Pork Vindaloo
Tasty Tuna Cutlets or Croquettes
Easy Kerala Style Chicken Fry - one of the first recipes here!
Whole Wheat Pistachio Cardamom cookies
4 Ingredient quick and easy Nutella Brownies

And now back to this stew/ soup. I do love the dimension of flavor that beer adds to it. But it doesn't have to have beer. It's just a basic, really good chicken stew or soup that I make all the time with what ever I have on hand. All kinds of vegetables can be tossed in, including one of those bags of assorted frozen veggies. This stew helps me use up all kinds of left overs like roast chicken, rice, pasta or even lentils. This time I simmered it with a bottle of beer that was hanging out in the fridge, though you can easily skip the beer and use chicken stock instead. Sometimes I make it with egg noodles, sometimes I plop in bits of dough that absorb the delicious broth and cook into hearty, plump little dumplings. We ate them all up so I didn't have any to photograph, maybe next time, in the next incarnation of this stew that I make too often. 

It might interest you to know how different yet awesomely delicious too is the chicken stew that I grew up eating in Kerala- a gloriously spiced coconut milk, chicken, vegetable or meat stew that is one of my all time favorite dishes. My good friend Prerna Singh of Indian Simmer even features a slow cooker variation of it in her brand new cook book :)

Hurry over to her beautiful blog to win a copy of her first cook book and discover how to cook Indian Food easily and deliciously in the slow cooker.

Recipe for Beer Braised Cilantro Chicken Stew
Recipe by: Rose of Magpie's Recipes
Difficulty Level: Easy

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast tenders or thighs 6
• Pearl onions or shallots 4 ( or you can use 1/4 of a regular onion)
• Garlic 6 cloves sliced into wedges
• Celery seed powder 1/4 tsp ( better to use fresh celery about a handful, chopped, I just didn't have any)
• Cumin powder 1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder 1/2 tsp
• Pepper 1/2 tsp
• Dried Thyme 1/2 tsp
• Carrots 1 cup sliced into thin rounds
• Scallions 2 chopped ( optional)
• Ginger 1 inch piece smashed
• Flour 1 tbsp
• Beer 1 twelve oz bottle ( optional, can use some more chicken stock instead)
• Chicken stock  2 cups ( can use bullion dissolved in 2 cups water)
• Cilantro a handfuls, chopped to garnish
• Oil (I use canola or light olive oil, sometimes one of those herb or garlic infused olive oils)

Directions

• Heat some oil in a skillet
• Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the chicken breasts and brown the chicken on both sides, don't cook, just brown
• Remove the chicken and keep aside
• In the same skillet, adding a little more oil if required, brown the garlic then the onion, then add the spices and vegetables and stir until lightly browned.
• Add back the browned chicken and stir in the flour. Keep stirring until the flour is slightly turned a light brown and is no longer raw.
• Add the chicken stock and or beer and let simmer.
• If you want to add noodles, pasta or cooked rice, this is the time.
• Check and add salt if required and garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Drizzle some olive oil, if you like ones infused with herbs or garlic, use that, and serve with bread, biscuits, or even over rice.

Note,  If I'm in a hurry this is what I do to save thawing the chicken in the microwave, I use my pressure cooker instead:
Pressure cook the frozen chicken tenders with 1/2 cup chicken stock or beer till thawed and cooked
Heat oil in a skillet and brown the chicken, cut it up with a fork and remove, proceed as above for the rest.

You can also make dumplings and simmer them in the stew until cooked:

Dumplings
1 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
Herbs (optional)
Water or milk

Mix the above ingredients with just enough water or milk to make a dough
Roll into small marble sized balls or scoop with a spoon and drop into the simmering stew.
Cover and let the dumplings cook until a skewer inserted into the dumpling comes out clean and the inside is not gummy ( 10 to 15 minutes, the smaller you roll them, the faster they will cook)