Moroccan Chicken Dumplings

This recipe is taken from "A Taste of Canada, a culinary journey" by Rose Murray. My sister gave us the cookbook for Christmas and we thought we'd give something a go. Very tasty, although next time I'd add a bit more spice. I've adjusted the recipe in a couple of places where I thought it could use it.

• Stew
• 4 whole chicken legs
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoons ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne
• 4 carrots, quartered
• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 ½ cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon liquid honey
• ½ cup dried apricots
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• Olive oil for frying
• Dumplings
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon saffron, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 ⅓ cups milk

Seperate the drumsticks from the thighs. In a bowl, combine the flour, cumin, cinnamon and cayenne. Then coat the chicken in the flour and spice mixture, reserving the leftover spice mixture. In a large saucepan heat some olive oil and brown the chicken. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add a little bit more oil to the pan, add carrots and onions and saute for 5 minutes. Add flour and spice mixture and cook for one more minute. Stir in broth, bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken and any juices to the pan. Stir in the honey and apricots. Return to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 40-45 minutes. Stir in the peas, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Saffron dumplings (you'll want to put them in the pot about 15 minutes before the stew is finished cooking):

While the stew is simmering, sift flour, baking powder, salt and saffron in a bowl. Cut the shortening until the mixture is the consistency of oatmeal. Graduallly stir in the milk adding a few more drops if necessary to make a sticky dough. Dust a large plate with flour, with a tablespoon cut out dumplings and drop onto the plate. Quickly drop the dumplings onto the gently simmering stew spacing them evenly, cover the pan tightly and simmer without lifting the lid for 15 mintutes. Serve immediately.