Suet Dumplings, Chicken Sausages And Chicken Soup - A Sorry Tale

This is the sad and sorry story of suet dumplings and chicken soup.  Once upon a time, Sherry decided to make dumplings just like her mum used to make.  Her mum always used a packet of suet mix, just like her mum did.  Okay, you get the picture :-)  So this is more of a story than a recipe but here goes:  I bought two packets of suet mix just to be safe.  I thought I'd be clever and stuff those little beauties with chicken sausage filling.  So I bought chicken sausages.  The saga begins.

First I had to work out how much flour to suet, so I read the instructions on the side of the packet.  I grabbed a huge mixing bowl, and turfed it all in.  And I thought - 'let's double the recipe' - so I chucked in another packet of suet.  A scream ensued as I realised I had totally screwed up the amounts.  I'm no mathematical genius, so I got Mr P. to bring his brain to the party, which was no help at all :-). 

There was no fixing this baby, so we jumped in the car and hared off to the supermarket for more suet.  Finally after much searching of shelves, with packet in hand, we drove home.  Foolishly I decided to rectify the mistake by re-calculating the amounts already weighed out.  Instead of starting over, I used the mixture in the bowl.

Then I made the dumplings, or tried my damnedest (is that a word?).  First I squeezed out the sausage filling from their cases.  Is there any better feeling than that?  Squishy, moist filling oozing out in your hands ...  I made up a small ball of filling, then tried to encase it with the dumpling mix.  My friends, it was like herding cats.  The dough wanted to become one with my hands.  Mr P. threw in heaps more flour, and more flour ...   

We gave up; there was no saving these babies.  So I turned the whole, soggy, sorry mess into chicken soup with chicken balls.  Hilariously, somehow it ended up with a few large balls of soggy suet dumpling (without filling)!  Dunno how they snuck in.  

check out the big chicken meatball!

ingredients:

500g./1.1 lb herby chicken sausages, filling squeezed out of their skins

1 cup -ish (you may need more) panko breadcrumbs

1.5 L/51 fl oz chicken stock

1 cup of frozen veg. (I used peas, corn and capsicum)

1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce - or your fave sauce

1 tsp gochugaru - feel free to use your fave chilli powder/flakes

1 Tbs hot sauce - your choice

salt and black pepper to taste

a big handful of parsley and chives, chopped roughly 

The Next Night:

(We had it for dinner the next night too, so I added chopped mushrooms, zucchini, spring onion, etc.):

Two big mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 small zucchini, diced

3 spring onions, finely sliced

1 cup cooked rice

1 tin (400g.) cannellini beans or your fave bean

more herbs of your choice

more chilli powder

more stock if needed (I did)

Method:

Squeeze out the chicken meat from the sausage casings, roll into balls (your preferred size) and then roll them in the panko

Bring the stock to the boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer

Gently lower the chicken balls into the liquid and simmer away for about 10-15 minutes till the meat is almost cooked through

Add the frozen veg., sauces, seasonings and herbs and simmer for a few more minutes till the veg. are done 

Serve with a whisper of chilli oil on top of your bowl

NEXT NIGHT:

Reheat the leftover soup gently on a low-ish heat

Add the extra veg., the rice, the beans, the herbs and chilli powder/flakes

Simmer till everything is heated through and the veg. are tender

Ladle into your bowls

Notes:

You can buy chicken mince, if you can't be bothered eviscerating the snags (sausages)

I had some leftover Thai fried rice in the fridge, so in it went

P.S. - suet is the fat which surrounds the kidneys of beef or sheep!

 

ready to squeeze out the snags

sausage meat and suet mix

ready to serve the first night

delicious and hearty soup (and balls) - see the soggy dumpling?

soup, glorious soup ... la la la!

Oh, I forgot to tell you the rest of the saga.  I was going to throw out all the mess.  So I had a packet of unopened suet mix, and a massive bowlful of suet and flour and salt.  I thought the birds and possums might like it ...  No, thought I to myself.  Be thrifty.  And I weighed it out and divvied it up and bagged it and put it in freezer bags and tagged it.  Sweat pouring down my brow, hands covered in suet-y mess, I bravely finished up my suet story.  So there it sits, in my freezer drawer, awaiting the next instalment of the dumpling sagas.

(Joining up with Marg from The Intrepid Reader for Weekend Cooking.)

© Sherry M.