Duck Dumplings

40 dumplings later...

Happy Chinese New Year! What better way to celebrate the year of the snake than with some salty little duck gifts. This recipe makes about 40 dumplings, which gives you loads of time to get good at crimping the edges. The repetitiveness has a similar affect on your mind as kneading can, quite relaxing really. This salty meditative combination is a perfect cure for any edgy hangover.

Ingredients for dumplings (Makes about 40-50)

2 duck breast (fat removed)

2 large spring onion (or 4 -5 smallish ones)

2 tblsp of chopped ginger

2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

4 tblsp light soy sauce

4 tblsp balsamic vinegar

1 tblsp sesame oil

1 tblsp Chinese five spice

juice of 1/2 lime

1/3 of a Chinese cabbage (finely chopped)

1 pack of gyoza wrappers (or wonton wrappers)

For the dipping sauce

2 tblsp light soy sauce

2 tblsp balsamic vinegar

juice of 1/2 lime

salt 

What to do?

Start by making the filling. Slice the raw duck breast then blend in a food processor for about 10 seconds (you don't want it too smooth but then again you don't want any big lumps of duck either). Combine all the duck with all the ingredients for the dumplings and leave this for 20minutes to let the flavours develop. The gyoza wrappers I bought were frozen so this gives some time for these to begin defrosting. 

To assemble the dumplings, put 1 tsp of the dumpling mix in the centre of a gyoza wrapper, put a little water around 1/2 the edge, fold the sides together, crimping as you squeeze any air out. You want to be left with a flat base, so squash it down a little if you need to. 

They look trickier than they are, but you will get better at sealing them and getting a good shape as you go along. The important thing is to ensure they are sealed and the base is flat, so you don't lose any delish filling during cooking! 

To cook them heat a frying pan up to a medium high heat, add some oil then add the dumplings on the flat bottoms, fry for about 2 minutes. The flat bottom should go golden brown, then pour water into the pan so it comes half way up the sides of the dumplings and cover with tin foil so the dumplings steam. 

Take the lid off once the water has evaporated, let the dumplings crisp up on the bottoms then serve with the dipping sauce. YUM YUM NINJA.