For the chicken:
1 four-pound chicken
16 cups of water (1 gallon)
1 onion
9 cloves of Catch a Fire Jalapeno Garlic, divided
2 carrots, peeled and cut into quarters
4 celery stalks, cut into quarters
2 bay leaves
1 leafy stem of cilantro (optional) plus 1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped
1 can of Ro-Tel
1/2 cup Texas Sweet & Hot Jalapenos, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup of cream
Cayenne Hot Pepper Sea Salt, black pepper, and cumin to taste

For the cornmeal dumplings:
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 cup Texas Sweet & Hot Jalapenos, finely diced
2 tablespoons of minced cilantro

Method:
Clean and rinse your chicken and place in a large stock pot. Add water, onion, 8 Catch a Fire Jalapeno Garlic, carrots, celery, bay leaves, and whole cilantro stem. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then simmer for an hour and a half, occasionally skimming the foamy scum off the surface.

Remove chicken from pot and turn off the heat. After it’s cooled, remove fat and pick the meat off the bones and either shred or cut into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper to taste.

Take cooled broth and strain and throw out the vegetables as they’ve done their duty. Now you need to remove the fat from the broth. If you don’t have a preferred way of getting rid of the fat or lack a gravy separator, you can try the plastic bag method. Take a quart-sized plastic storage bag, pour some broth into it. You will see the fat rise to the top. Snip a bottom corner of the bag and drain the broth, stopping when you get to the fat layer. (You will probably have to do this in batches).

Place the broth back into the pot and add the shredded chicken and lime juice. In a blender, add the can of Ro-Tel, sliced Texas Sweet & Hot Jalapenos, chopped cilantro and Catch a Fire Jalapeno Garlic and blend. Add puree to the pot. Now add the cream. Add Cayenne Hot Pepper Sea Salt, black pepper, and cumin to taste. Bring to a boil. And while the soup is coming to a boil, make the cornmeal dumplings.

Sift together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Beat the eggs with the buttermilk and add to the dry ingredients. Stir in the melted butter, Texas Sweet & Hot Jalapenos and cilantro.

When soup is boiling, turn heat down to low and gently drop the dumpling batter into the pot, one tablespoon or so at a time. Do not stir. Place lid on top and steam dumplings for 20 minutes.

Ladle the chicken and dumplings into bowls and sprinkle cilantro on top. Serves six to eight.

Notes: If you want a thicker broth, feel free to add some flour. I’d add it slowly, a quarter cup at a time.