Healthy Recipe: Yosemite Chicken Stew and Dumplings

Published January 12th, 2009

Come in from the cold and warm up with this tasty stew! Skinless chicken and cornmeal dumplings made with low-fat milk make it healthier.

*Ingredients*

For the stew:
1 lb chicken meat, skinless, boneless, and cut into 1-inch cubes
½ cup onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
¼ tsp salt
black pepper to taste
1 pinch ground cloves
1 bay leaf
3 cups water
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp dried basil
1 package (10 oz) frozen peas

For the cornmeal dumplings:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
¾ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup milk, low-fat (1%)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

*Directions*

For the stew:
1. Place chicken, onion, carrot, celery, salt, pepper, cloves, bay leaf, and water into a large saucepan. Heat to boiling; cover and reduce heat to simmer. Cook about ½ hour or until chicken is tender.
2. Remove chicken and vegetables from broth. Strain broth.
3. Skim fat from broth; measure and, if necessary, add water to make 3 cups of liquid.
4. Mix cornstarch with 1 cup cooled broth by shaking vigorously in a jar with a tight-fitting lid.
5. Pour into saucepan with remaining broth; cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and is thickened.
6. Add basil, peas, and reserved vegetables to sauce; stir to combine.
7. Add chicken and heat slowly to boiling while preparing cornmeal dumplings.

For the dumplings:
1. Sift together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix together milk and oil. Add milk mixture all at once to dry ingredients; stir just enough to moisten flour and to evenly distribute liquid. Dough will be soft.
3. Drop by full tablespoons on top of braised meat or stew. Cover tightly; heat to boiling. Reduce heat (do not lift cover) to simmering and steam about 20 minutes.

Makes: 6 servings
Serving size: 1¼ cups stew with 2 dumplings

Each serving provides:
Calories: 301
Total fat: 6 g
Saturated fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 43 mg
Sodium: 471 mg
Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 24 g
Carbohydrate: 37 g
Potassium: 409 mg

Recipe courtesy of: A Healthier You, Department of Health and Human Services