Martha May's Dumplins

Hey yall! This recipe holds a very special place in my heart. Martha May is my grandmother and boy does she know how to cook a mean pot of dumplings. My Grandmothers Dumplings is the fix all for a scratched knee, runny nose, or a broken heart. There was just something about having a bowl of dumplings from Maw Maws that made everything better.

You will need:

Water
4 Chicken Breast (with skin and bone)
1 Medium onion cut
1/2 Cup of green onions cut
3 chicken bouillon Cubes
3 Cups of self rising flour
1/4 Cup of veg oil
1 Cup of whole milk
Salt and Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder

The kitchen items we will use for this recipe are:

Large boiling pot
Rolling pin
Pizza cutter
Aluminum foil
Measuring cup


First, we are going to start with the chicken broth. This broth will hold your entire flavor for your dish. Wash chicken breast and place into a large pot and cover chicken with water. Next, you’re going to add your green and white onions, 3 chicken bouillon cubes, 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp pepper, 1 tbsp of garlic powder and 1 tbsp onion powder. If this seems to much, season to your taste. After all of your ingredients are in for your broth, bring to a hard boil and reduce to a simmer and put a lid on it! Once the chicken is completely done, remove the chicken and place on plate to cool. Once chicken is cooled, remove the chicken meat from the bone and throw away bones and skin. I take a little extra time with this step to avoid bones and cartilage from being in the broth. Once the chicken is cleaned, shred the chicken and place back in the broth and return to a boil. Now it’s time to taste your broth and season to fit your taste buds.

Now we are going to make the dumplings. This is a very messy step but, one thing that I enjoy is getting flour everywhere! It is a big mess to clean up but, you can put your heart into it when you’re not worried about making a mess! :)

So, first we are going to lay out aluminum foil on the counter to help with an easy clean up. Next, you’re going to pour one cup of self rising flour on the aluminum foil and dust your rolling pin with the flour.
Now here comes the tricky part. Pour two cups of self rising flour into a mixing bowl, 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and enough milk to make the dough wet. You cannot mess this step up because if the dough is too wet you can add more flour; and if too dry add more milk. How do you know if it is too wet you ask? If the dough sticks to your hands when you knead it, then it is too wet. If your dough is crumbly then it is too dry; and you want to add milk to it. Now, we are going to put the dough ball in the loose flour that you placed on the aluminum foil. Knead the flour until it forms a tight ball, cut ball into four equal pieces, and set three of the dough balls aside.

At this point your chicken and broth should be at a boil.

Roll each dough ball out until dough is thin, dust the dumplings with flour, and cut into bite size pieces with pizza cutter. Next, you’re going to divide your cut dumplings into three different batches. You will be unable to place all of your dumplings in the pot at the same time.

Carefully place dumplings into the boiling broth and try to avoid from stirring them but, you do need to push them down into the broth with the back side of a spoon. Once your first batch of dumplings sinks to the bottom, you’re going to add the reminder of the dumplings repeating the process two more times.

Once all of your dumplings are added, reduce heat to a simmer and place lid on pot. Simmer the dumplings for 20 minutes until done.

****Some people like thick dumplings some people like thin dumplings. If you like thick dumplings simply add a thickener. I do one cup of milk with 3 tbsp of flour and wisk until flour is combined with water and add to your dumplings.

Now sit back, kick your feet up and smell the healing powers of Martha May's dumplings :)

Enjoy!
Backwoods Belle