Poop Soup

On Wednesday, after our "huge" snow storm, I was craving soup!  It was as if I knew what was coming when I was at the grocery store the Sunday before and picked up a bag of dried, mixed beans!  When I was a little girl, my mom used to make a red soup called Poop Soup, which is more commonly refer to as Navy Bean Soup.  It used to be a treat we would only indulge in a few times a year, but we all looked forward to it with our mouths drooling.  The two day process was torture!

When I came across the dry bean mix in the grocery store, I realized that it had been years since we had it, and I could not resist the temptation.  When snow arrived on the weather forecast, it was destiny!  I just want to mention, that if you do not want to go through the process of soaking beans, you can always mix wet canned beans that have been drained instead.  This will also cut your process down from 2 days to 1!  I have also included the recipe for my great grandmom's dumpling recipe, which I make with this. 


Poop Soup
Yields 10 large servings...aka enough to feed the entire state of Rhode Island.  There is enough with this amount of ingredients to reserve half and freeze it for another day!

Ingredients 
1 lb 13 oz bag of dried bean mix (Again, you can replace this with canned beans that have been strained for a shorter prep time!)
56 oz of tomato puree
1 pound of diced ham (You can replace this with a pork butt or kielbasa.  Normally we do use a pork butt.)
Salt and Pepper to taste

To Prepare the Soup 
1. The night before you make the soup, place your dried beans in a strainer and wash them with cool water.

2. Place them in a large bowl with plenty of water and leave them to soak over night.  Even though you have washed the beans, the water will still turn colors because of the beans reconstituting.

3. The next day strain the water from the beans and start boiling them in 2 quarts of water.  Make sure there is enough water to cover the beans plus some!

The reconstituted beans will be slightly plump and a little softer.

4. Boil the beans for at least 1 hour.

5. Chop the ham and add it to the pot of water and beans.  If you are using a pork butt, I would recommend leaving it whole and adding it to the pot!

6. Right after adding the ham, add 56 ounces of tomato puree to the pan and turn it down to low heat.
7. Cook for another hour on low heat. You can salt and pepper to taste during this step, or let everyone season their own bowls!

Approximately a half hour before serving, prepare your dumplings!

Great Grandma's Dumplings
Yields approximately 2 cups of dumplings

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder

To Prepare the Dumplings
1. Turn the soup up to medium heat so it is simmering and on the verge of boiling.

2. Blend all of the dry ingredients together.
3. Add the milk and gently fluff the batter together with a fork.  The dough should not completely come together.  If you force the ingredients, your dough will not rise properly in the soup!

4. Drop the dough into the soup by the spoon full.

5. Cover the pot with a lid and forget about it for about 20 minutes or until the dumplings have risen and puffed up!

Chicken Paprikash over Egg Dumplings

For the longest time (aka most of my life), I never got to experience the Hungarian cuisine of my dad's childhood!  His father, a Hungarian to the core, loved the traditional dishes of the motherland, but unfortunately, with his untimely death in the early '80s, we lost most of the recipes.  He notoriously did not write down recipes or share all of the ingredients or directions, so none of us never really knew how to make any of the traditional Hungarian dishes!  For example, he used to make a Hungarian cookie called Kiffles.  He gave my mom the recipe for the cookies, but did not tell her until he was on his death bed, that hers always fell apart because he didn't tell her to egg wash them before baking!  My grandmother stopped making most of the Hungarian dishes after he passed away, much to my dismay!  After about 22 years of searching and asking around, my aunt was able to provide me with a fairly authentic chicken paprikash recipe!  Here is my adaptation of her recipe...

Chicken Paprikash over Egg Dumplings
Yields 3 - 4 servings


To Prepare the Chicken Paprikash
1. Heat 1/2 a stick (4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup) of butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

2. Once the butter has heated, add 1 pound of thin cut skinless, boneless chicken breasts.

3. While the chicken is browning in the butter, cut 2 small onions in half moons.

4. Flip the chicken once it has browned on the first side, and add the onions.

5. While the onions brown with the other side of the chicken, cut 2 green bell peppers into 1/4 wide strips.

6. Add the peppers to the pan and stir everything together well!
7. Cook everything over medium heat until the peppers soften a little bit.
8. Add a 14 ounce can of either chicken or vegetable broth to the pan.

9. Add 2 heaping teaspoons of paprika to the pan.

10. While everything is coming to a boil, mix 1 tablespoon of flour with 1/4 cup of water, and add it to the boiling pan.  This will help thicken the sauce!

11. Stir 1 cup of sour cream into the pan.

12. Once everything is blended well, add salt and pepper to taste. If your sauce is too spicy, add some more sour cream, milk, or cream...it will help soften the flavor! 
13. Cover the pan and let everything simmer on low heat while you prepare the dumplings!

To Prepare the Dumplings
*If you don't want to make dumplings, this serves very well over egg noodles or rice! 
1. Put a large pot of water on to boil. 
2. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour to a bowl.
3. Add 3 eggs to the bowl.
4. Add 1/2 cup of milk to the bowl.
5. Mix everything together until it becomes a batter.

 6. When the water has come to a rapid boil, use a small spoon and drop the batter into the water by the spoonful. 
7. The dumplings are done cooking when they float.  Remove them from the water by either pouring the water and dumplings through a sieve, or by scooping them out with a slotted spoon or mesh colander!

To Serve
1. Put a spoonful or two of dumplings on a plate and top it with some chicken, vegetables, and sauce!