Homemade dumplings recipe, Kung fu Panda Dumplings Recipe – Kannamma Cooks (2024)

My son is a great fan of Master Po ( me too ) and ever since we saw Kung fu Panda 3, we have been contemplating everyday to recreate “Master Po” style dumplings. The round ones. So we decided to make dragon warrior inspired chicken dumplings from scratch. After a couple of failed messy attempts, we managed to get pretty decent ones. As good as the ones at Mr. Pings Noodle shop if we say so ourselves. Please bear with our dumpling pleating skills. We are as messy as Po in that area.

I think Kung fu Panda is one of the awesome-est animated films of the recent years. The clumsy, childish panda becoming the dragon warrior is a brilliant story that stays for a long time. One of my favorite lines from the kung fu panda series is the one about the secret ingredient of the noodle soup.
Mr. Ping – “Po, I think it’s time I told you something I should have told you a long time ago! The secret ingredient of my secret ingredient soup is, ah ah The secret ingredient is……… NOTHING.”
Po – “Huh ?”
Mr. Ping – “You heard me. Nothing!There is no secret ingredient!”
Po – “Wait, wait, it’s just plain old Noodle Soup? You don’t add some kind of special sauce or something?”
Mr. Ping – “Don’t have to! To make something special, you just have to believe it’s special.”

So, presenting to you Dragon Warrior inspiredchicken dumplings.

First we tackle the dumpling wrapper. We will make dough from scratch.

Take a bowl and add in the flour, salt and a teaspoon of oil. Add in the hot water and mix well. Add a little more water if the dough is very dry or a little more flour if its too wet. Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes until soft and pliable (similar to chapati dough consistency). Apply half a teaspoon of oil on the dough so the dough does not dry out. Store the dough to rest over night in the refrigerator. Well rested dough is easier to work when making dumplings. Remove the dough couple of hours before from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature before rolling.

In the mean time, make the filling. Here is the recipe for the filling.
Add in the ground chicken (just pulse the boneless chicken several times in the mixie), finely chopped spring onions, coriander leaves, finely minced ginger, finely minced green chillies, soy sauce,little pinch of salt and one egg. Mix well until its combined. Use your hands to mix well. The filling is ready!

Lets finish our wrapper business!
Dust the work surface with flour and roll the dough into thin sheets. Cut small rounds from them. Set aside the rounds. Cover the wrappers with parchment or cling wrap so the wrappers don’t stick with one another. Repeat until all the dough has been cut out.

Its filling time. Now get your kitchen counter ready!
Get the dumpling wrappers and the filling. Place 1 tablespoon of filling on each dumpling wrapper. Don’t stuff them with filling. It gets really messy if over filled and it will be hard to pleat the dumplings. Gently gather the edges to the middle in pleats. Watch this video on how to wrap dumplings. Repeat with all the wrappers and the filling. Enjoy it with your kids. The aim is not perfect pleating. The aim is to have fun!
Just boil 2 inches ofwater in a kettle and keep the steamer on top.Steam the dumplings on a cabbage lined steamer for 12 minutes. Idli cooker works perfectly too.

Serve hot with a dash of soy sauce for dipping. Ever since we moved to Hong Kong, Vedant has been trying hard to get the art of eating with chopsticks. I can say that he has come close.

Enjoy the dumplings!

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