Peggy’s Original Dumplings

For those who miss Chicken and Dumplings, here ya go!  Only took me 4 years to develop these since requested of me by Dano, a member of the Atkins forums at one time! This one’s for you Dano!  Besides, I just have to have me some Chicken and Dumplings once in awhile.  It’s a Southern U.S. thing.  What can I say?  🙂

When you can’t have flour, it’s really really hard to make dumplings that will hold together during cooking. I’ve used almond flour, coconut flour, flax meal and a variety of alternate flours.  You name it and I’ve probably tried that alternate flour to make a dumpling.  This is no easy low-carb feat.  I wanted a similar taste and similar mouth feel as the dumplings I made before my low-carbing days.  All attempts thus far have been mediocre, at best.

Somewhere on the net a year or so ago, on some forum (probably Low Carb Friends, but not sure), someone mentioned they made dumplings with glucomannan powder.  Not being at all familiar with this product, I ordered some from Netrition.com and began to experiment.  Its gel-like, fibrous qualities when wet lend themselves to a dumpling, providing structure and texture.  It is also useful for thickening gravies, sauces and puddings.  I’ve even found a tad of this stuff enhances low-carb cake, cookie and bread baking results, both in volume and texture.  I’d love to give credit to my inspiration on this recipe, but I must admit I failed to write down the name of the person who’s ingenious idea this really was.  But I’m thankful they triggered off some experimentation that has paid off!

If you’re not familiar with glucomannan powder, it comes from the Konjac tuber, and is used to make shirataki noodles seen in Asian menus.   It can be used as a binding agent in some recipes.  It is virtually a zero carb food, in that the fiber content is so high, it virtually negates the few carbs it contains as fiber is indigestible and passes right out of the system with zero blood sugar impact.   Most importantly, glucomannan adds the structure and elasticity needed for dumplings and noodles.  So I began experimenting.

I’m getting more comfortable using this tricky ingredient and have finally come up with a “dumpling” that feels and almost tastes like my dumplings of old.  This will now be my go-to dumpling recipe.  As you can see in the pic above, they hold together nicely during very gentle simmering (unlike all previous attempts), and the glucomannan powder also slightly releases in to the broth to thicken it as well!  NICE!

For you “experimenters”  under no circumstances, increase the oat fiber!!  I did one time and they came out just awful, hard as a rock, plus they did not absorb any flavor from the chicken broth because of the density.  Trust me, you DON’T want to go there!  This balance of ingredients it really pretty special and all attempts to “improve” them have just not turned out as good.

The batch of Chicken and Dumplings shown above was the best batch I’ve had in 4 years!  My husband gave these dumplings two thumbs up today, and he’s pretty picky about faux foods.  They don’t have much taste, but instead pick up the flavor of whatever broth or sauce they are simmered in.  The carb count for these dumplings is simply amazing!  Guilt free dumplings at last!!

The recipe posted elsewhere on my site for chicken and dumplings is good, don’t get me wrong.  But you have to bake the rolls separately for that recipe.   With this dumpling recipe, I can stir the ingredients together, drop them into the broth, and the dumplings are simmering immediately!  Much easier!  And you regular readers know I’m really into EASY cooking.

These dumplings formed smaller work nicely in  soups and I have made them into small, oblong shapes for marvelous gnocchi served in rich cream sauces.  Some more adventurous cooks at Low Carb Friends forums are even using pasta extruders and coming up with all kinds of noodle shapes for this dough!  But I don’t own an extruder and probably wouldn’t go to that much trouble anyway.  Just being honest.  I’m a lazy cook. 🙂

These dumplings are not suitable until the grains rung of the Atkins OWL carb re-introduction ladder due to the oat fiber, but omitting it is just not an option for these to cook right.   I’m very proud to have developed a dumpling recipe that many who have tried freely admit fills void in their low-carb lifestyles.  🙂

My Lobster Linguine recipe is the first time I tried rolling and cutting it into noodles and the final dish was quite good.

This recipe isn’t 100% gluten-free due to the oat fiber, which CANNOT be omitted or subbed out with anything except perhaps my suggestion below.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1½ T. glucomannan powder (Konjac powder)

1½ T. oat fiber (For gluten-free version, try substituting oat flour ground from 100% gluten-free oats, but I’m not making any promises that will work.  It might work.    Carbs will be only a tad higher.)

1/8 tsp. salt

¼ c. +2 T. water

1 extra large or jumbo egg, beaten

VARIATION:  Add 1-2 T. finely chopped parsley to the dry ingredients

DIRECTIONS:   Beat the egg in a small bowl with a fork.  Add the water and beat until well blended.  On a paper plate or in another bowl, mix the dry ingredients well.  Slowly sprinkle the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring with a fork or whisk.  Switching to a rubber spatula, stir and begin to fold the slowly thickening mixture over and over itself until it is a contiguous batter and eventually turns into a thick, almost dry dough.  I let mine sit by the stove 2-3 minutes.  Then, using a teaspoon, dip 3/4″-1″ dollops of the dough into your palm.  This step is important:  roll them gently in your palms into a ball shape.  I set the balls on my counter or a silicone sheet until all are made.  If you just drop them directly into the broth from the spoon without rolling, they tend to fall apart in the broth during cooking.  Or using your hands, roll the dough into ropes on plastic wrap and cut into short lengths for gnocchi, if that’s your pleasure.

I recommend removing the cooked chicken and vegetables to a platter before adding the dumplings to cook.  This allows ample room for the dumplings to rise and swell up without beating each other.  Have your soup/broth boiling.  Drop the round dumplings/gnocchi into slowly simmering broth and immediately turn fire medium-low so it will only gently simmer.  This is IMPORTANT, as you don’t want to “rough up” these delicate babies.  Cover with tight lid.  From the time you cover the pot, set timer for exactly 10 minutes for dumplings (8 minutes for smaller gnocchi).   DO NOT LIFT THE LID or disturb the pot during cooking.  After 10 minutes  (8 minutes for smaller gnocchi), lift the lid and VOILA!!  They’re done!  You may have to thicken the stock further depending on your personal preference, but the dumplings themselves usually take care of thickening, as some of the glucomannan in then sloughs off into the broth, thickening it right up.   Place chicken and veggies back into pot and serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 medium-large 1½” dumplings (24 gnocchi), each contains:  (halve the numbers for each gnocchi)

7.17 calories, 0.49 g  fat, 1.38 g  carbs, 1.29 g  fiber, 0.1 g  NET CARBS, 0.61 g  protein, 55 mg sodium

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