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This is a recipe from my upstate SC great grandmother. She made it for me and my sisters/cousins when we were children and my mother who was born in 1933 remembers it when she was a child, so I am assuming it is a depression era recipe. It was unlike her to give her own creations fanciful names, so I am guessing she copied it from a magazine, newspaper or a friend.
Cook large hen. Remove meat from chicken when cool. In the chicken stock, simmer the following:
4 onions
1 large can tomatoes
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon sugar
Black pepper
Add 1 cup milk with pinch of baking powder. Thicken with flour/water. Add chicken and mix gently. Serve over rice.
That's the original recipe. It's unlikely you can find a hen in the grocery store today. I use 4-5 chicken breasts depending on how large they are. You can also use a rotisserie chicken or any combination of chicken pieces you want. Add chicken broth to cover the chicken..about 4-6 cups.
I use vidalia or texas sweet onions if available and coarse chop them or chop in petals.
Drain the tomatoes and crush with your fingers, or put in a bowl and mash with a potato masher.
I use a lot of black pepper. 1-2 tbsps.
To thicken, I take a few ladles of broth into a bowl and add flour. I start with 2 tbsps. and whisk till smooth then add back to the pot. You want the sauce to be about the thickness of a gravy you would pour over mashed potatoes....in between an au jus and a sausage gravy.
Serve over rice. For really light fluffy rice, rinse it in a collander before you cook it.
This is a meal in itself, but if you prefer a more well rounded meal, you can always add a salad and french or garlic bread. Alternatively, you can serve fruit on the side to cut the heat of the main dish.
sounds good, but I can I use chicken cutlets instead of whole hen?
Yes, but you want the equivalent meat of a whole chicken, or you need to cut the reicpe down proportionately which is ok. It's a pretty forgiving recipe.
I love reading people's family Depression recipes. They could make something out of nearly nothing.
You kids must have had a strong constitution to eat something that peppery!
Ha.........I make it more peppery than she did. But, you can make it as peppery as you want. Actually, the pepper is what gives it its distinctive taste.
True though that they made do with what they had. The one good thing about living rurally or on a farm during the depression was that you had some farm animals and a vegetable garden so you didnt go hungry.
As my mother often says, she was poor, but she didnt know she was poor!
sounds good, but I can I use chicken cutlets instead of whole hen?
I substitute 6 thighs and 6 wings for the 'whole chicken" in similar recipes and it seems to work out ok.
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