Russian Season

In a winter like this…

…can there be anything more soothing and comforting than a bowl of warm soup? For me, those creamy blended vegetable soups are the best; but if you like poultry – what about some translucent chicken broth with petite dumplings and tender carrots? To make the broth as clear and healthy as possible, we quickly boiled chicken in some water first and poured off that water.

Make this soup immediately before meals and do not leave it overnight: flour from dumplings would diffuse into broth and make it cloudy.

(Below you will also find some more winter pictures that Mom took from the window today. We always feed sparrows in wintertime, and only when it gets really cold, the cautious blackbirds visit us too).

Ingredients

-for the dumplings
1 egg
1 cup wheat flour
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp water

-for the broth
2 whole chicken legs
1 small onion, peeled
1 small carrot, peeled
Fresh dill, finely chopped
1 ½ l water + approx.800ml for pre-boiling
Salt to taste

Serves 4

Place the chicken into some boiling plain water to cover. Bring to a boil and pour off water. We also rinsed the chicken one more time.

Add new boiling water (1 ½ l) to the saucepan. Add chicken, carrot, and whole onion. Season with salt and keep boiling gently until ready (40 minutes or so), removing any scum that rises to the top.

While the soup is cooking, prepare the dumplings.

Combine all dumpling ingredients and knead stiff dough. Place the dough onto a flour-sprinkled surface, form one thick loaf and cut it into slices. Roll the slices into long snakes (1-1 ½ cm in diameter) and cut them into small cubes/cylinders/whatever you’d call them. Brush off any excess flour (remember, we want a very clear soup).

When the broth is ready, take out all ingredients.

You can throw away the onion now.

Remove skin from the chicken and separate meat from bones. Set aside.

In a separate small bowl, crash the cooked carrot with a fork. Set aside.

Place the dumplings into boiling broth and cook for 5 minutes, until all dumplings float to the top.

The soup is now ready! Return crashed carrot and pieces of chicken meat into the soup, and serve hot with fresh dill.