Chicken Dumpling Soup
Greetings food adventurers! Today we visit the Argent Crusade tents in northern Icecrown for a bowl of hearty Chicken Dumpling Soup. Battling ice and the mindless zombies is hard work, and a good bowl of soup will reinforce your body and soul.
Snow storms swirl, piling ice and snow against the tents and fences. The bitter cold wind whips through the air. We barely notice that we can see our breath, through all the heavy scarves keeping our faces and necks warm. Our eyelashes gather ice crystals. It’s all we can do to push through and make it to the rows of wooden benches in the large shared dining tent. The heavy canvas tent is warm from small firepits and the constant congregation of people here. We smell spiced wine, fresh herbs (brought through portals of course), and the enticing aroma of soup full of love. The combination of friendship, compassion, and good food is exactly the source of strength we need.
The not-so-secret ingredients in this soup are cardamom and juniper berries, which are put into a spice grinder with the rest of the spices. Juniper brings an extra level of warmth and comfort to the broth and is well worth the quest to obtain it. If you like parsnips, those can be used in place of half the carrots. Add a handful of chopped kale if you like. This is a great “use up whatever is in the veggie drawer” soup as far as veggies go. To me it’s the spice blend and dumplings that bring the extra magic.
Quest tip: if you can’t find them locally, Penzey’s Spices sells juniper berries. *not an affiliate link and I don’t get compensated in any way from them, I just like their stuff*
This is adapted from Chelsea Monroe-Cassel’s World of Warcraft cookbook, which is one of my favorites and I very highly recommend it (from your locally owned bookshop of course).
Chicken Dumpling Soup
Special Equipment
- Spice Grinder
- Large soup pot with a lid
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter (non-dairy butter works here too)
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 3 ribs celery roughly chopped
- 2 to 3 large carrots diced
- 1 ½ tsp Northrend Spices (see below)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ cup beer Amber Ale recommended but any kind you enjoy will work (replace with additional broth for non-alcoholic)
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 to 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces (about 1 1/2 lbs)
- 1 cup frozen green peas (optional)
Dumplings:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp table salt
- 1 Tbsp butter MELTED AND COOLED (non-dairy butter works here too)
- 1 Tbsp fresh dill, parsley, or thyme stemmed and chopped small
- ½ cup milk (non-dairy works)
Northrend Spice Blend:
- 1 Tbsp ground cardamom
- 1 Tbsp dried juniper berries
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
Instructions
- Make the spice blend first: in a spice grinder, combine all the spice blend ingredients. Blend until there are no large pieces remaining. Put this into a small storage container. NOTE that not all of the spices will be used in this recipe!
- Prepare the butter for the dumplings. Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a tiny pot or in the microwave (10-15 seconds at a time). Set aside so it can cool.
- Melt the 2 Tbsp butter in the bottom of a large soup pot over medium heat.
- Add garlic. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the celery, carrot, and bell pepper, cooking 8 minutes.
- Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir for 2 minutes.
- Add the beer, scraping up all the bits of butter mixture.
- Add spices and stir to coat the veggies.
- Increase the heat to medium-high then add the broth and chicken. Start the dumpling dough (see below) while keeping an eye on the soup.
- As soon as the soup starts to boil, reduce heat to medium-low.
- Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, then add the dumplings (see below).
- ** NOTE: If skipping dumplings, cook for another 10 minutes (20 total), add peas, then cook another few minutes to thaw them just before serving. (you don't want to skip the dumplings though!)
Make the dumpling dough:
- Start the dumpling dough as soon as the chicken goes into the soup. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Rub or cut in the butter, then the fresh herbs, tossing to distribute evenly. (If you chopped up too many herbs, just toss the extra into the soup)
- Gradually add milk until the mixture comes together in a wet mass.
- Cover until ready to make.
Finish the Soup:
- Scoop out the dumpling dough in pieces about half the size of golf balls. Drop the dumplings into the top of the simmering soup and cover the pot. (they will seem too small, but they will grow a LOT as they cook).
- Allow the dumplings to cook about 10 minutes. Flip them over and cook the other side for 5 minutes.
- Add peas and heat just until they are hot.
