A Persian-Jewish Shabbat hors d'oeuvres that I love to enjoy as a hearty meal. With dumplings made from ground chicken and chickpea flour, this recipe from my mother holds a sweet spot in my heart. I hope you feel the love when you make it yourself.
Chicken & Chickpea Dumplings - Step by Step with Photos
For this chickpea dumpling stew, you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground chicken or dark meat turkey or beef
- 4 chicken legs
- 6 oz. chickpea flour
- 1 yellow onion grated
- 1 yellow onion peeled and quartered
- ¼ cup flavorless oil like canola, avocado, or sunflower seed
- 1 tbsp matzo meal panko, or breadcrumbs
- 16 oz. canned chickpeas rinsed (optional: peeled)
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp Cumin seed
- Salt and pepper
- Optional: fresh herbs for garnish
The Simple Chicken Broth
Bring 6 cups of water and the chicken legs to boil. As foam builds, skim the top with a slotted spoon. Foam doesn't always build, but remove it if it does.
Immediately lower the broth to a simmer. If you boil it on high boil, the chicken with get tough. Add the cumin seed, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, bay leaves, and quartered onion. Let the chicken simmer ~20 minutes. After 20 minutes discard the bay leaves, quartered onion, and any built-up foam like you see around the edges in the photo above.
Making Chickpea & Chicken Dumplings
Mix the ground poultry, grated onion, ½ cup water, ¼ cup oil, matzo meal, ground cumin, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, salt, pepper, and chickpea powder. Mix thoroughly without over-mixing. The mixture should be soft and elastic.
When the chicken broth is ready, remove the chicken from the pot. That way, there is plenty of room for the dumplings to cook. You will add the chicken legs back to the broth later. Bring the water back to a rolling boil.
Make golf ball size balls from the ground poultry mixture. Add to the boiling broth. At this point, you can freeze the dumplings on the baking sheet, and when frozen, transfer to a sealable container. Keeps in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Add the chickpeas to the broth. Bring to boil. Now, add the chicken legs back to the pot. Lower to a simmer and simmer 30-40 minutes.
How to Serve Gondi
Enjoy as a chickpea stew, served with basmati rice or as a chickpea soup without the rice. I sometimes garnish with fresh herbs to add a pop of color since it's a bland-looking dish, despite all the packed flavor.
More Chickpea Recipes
If you love chickpeas as much as I do, you'll love these other chickpea recipes:
More Persian Recipes
Check out all my Persian recipes here, and these are some of the blog favorites:
Gondi
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground chicken or dark meat turkey or beef
- 4 chicken legs
- 6 oz. chickpea flour
- 1 yellow onion grated
- 1 yellow onion peeled and quartered
- ¼ cup flavorless oil like canola, avocado, or sunflower seed
- 1 tablespoon matzo meal panko, or breadcrumbs
- 16 oz. canned chickpeas rinsed (optional: peeled)
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seed
- Salt and pepper
- fresh herbs for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Bring 6 cups of water and the chicken legs to boil. As foam builds, skim the top with a slotted spoon.
- Lower to simmer. Add the cumin seed, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, bay leaves, and quartered onion. Let the chicken simmer ~20 minutes. After 20 minutes discard the bay leaves and quartered onion.
- In the meantime, mix the ground poultry, grated onion, ½ cup water, ¼ cup oil, matzo meal, ground cumin, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, salt, pepper, and chickpea powder. Mix thoroughly without over-mixing. The mixture should be soft and elastic.
- When the chicken broth is ready, remove the chicken from the pot. Bring the water back to a rolling boil.
- Make golf ball size balls from the ground poultry mixture. Add to the boiling broth.
- Add the chickpeas to the broth.
- Bring to boil. Add the chicken back to the pot. Lower to a simmer.
- Simmer 30-40 minutes.
- Garnish with your favorite herbs (optional). Noush-ie-jan!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in January of 2017, but was republished with new photos, step by step instructions, and tips October of 2019.
Steve
These came out with the perfect texture - they didn't fall apart but they were nice and fluffy. Plus the broth was so tasty I would honestly make it again to use with other recipes. The recipe was super easy to follow too!
DK
This recipe is incredible.
It came out amazing and is so simple to make!
The only thing I changed was that I put in almond flour instead of the matzo meal so that it was GF.
Thank you!
Candice
Hi DK, thank you for sharing... it's great to know it works well with almond flour, too! I often leave it out, but find that it does help with keeping them fluffy. Thanks again, and enjoy!
Alan
My Persian jewish friend says their grandma also puts cardamon in this dish too. Can you suggest how you might add that in?
Thanks!
Candice
You can add a pinch to the meat mixture. I've seen this done before, but my family doesn't add it in. Enjoy!