Chicken Dumpling Patties

Maisie adores dumplings but as she’s allergic to wheat, I make her special Pork Dumplings with Rice Wrappers which are delicious but extremely time consuming to make.  Maisie’s been asking for dumplings but life has been crazy and I just haven’t found the time to devote to making them.  I started thinking about her dumplings and realized that it wasn’t the wrapper which she loved, it really was the flavors of the filling.  It was sort of spur of the moment the night that I decided to make these patties and I happened to have boneless chicken breasts in the house so I decided to grind them up and use that meat instead of the pork, which I usually use in dumplings, and it worked out beautifully.  Since these were a last minute decision, I didn’t have any Napa cabbage so after checking my pantry I decided to add water chestnuts which worked out beautifully, providing a nice little crunch and wonderful additional moisture to the patties.  I chose to pan fry the patties to give them a little crunch on the outside and they held together well and cooked up easily & quickly. These patties really did have the flavor of dumplings and were totally delicious, super simple to make, healthy and loved by all.  I know that I’ll be making these Chicken Dumpling Patties again very soon as they’ll be a perfect Chinese New Year meal for my little allergy girl.  I also know that it won’t be the last time I make these patties as I see them becoming a regular menu item in our home especially as they travel well for lunches, freeze and reheat beautifully.  A perfect little snack or meal..

Chicken Dumpling Patties

• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1 – 5 oz. can whole or sliced water chestnuts, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 TBS. fresh grated ginger
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 tsp. Sesame Oil
• 1 TBS. Soy Sauce
• 2 TBS. potato flakes 
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt 
• peanut oil or oil of your choice for cooking the patties

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients except the cooking oil.  Form the mixture into six to eight, pointer finger thick, patties.  Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and add enough cooking oil to just lightly coat the bottom of the pan.  Brown the patties on both sides making sure to not over-cook the patties but making sure that they’re cooked all the way through.  Serve the patties with Dumpling Dipping Sauce.

Enjoy!

Pork Dumplings with Rice Wrappers

Happy Chinese New Year ~~ Year of the Dragon ~~ Gung Hay Fat Choy!!! 新年快樂

Maisie is my dumpling loving girl and how could I have her celebrate Chinese New Year without her beloved dumplings.  But now with her food allergies to wheat, egg whites and milk, I’ve had to find new ways of making her favorite foods so enter, dumplings made with rice paper wrappers.  I didn’t have to make any changes to my filling recipe, it was only replacing the traditional wheat based dumpling wrapper with the rice paper wrapper.  I couldn’t make traditional shaped dumplings so I tried cigar and rectangular shaped and both worked out well as far as wrapping went.  I then tried steaming the dumplings and though they were wonderful, the wrapper just didn’t want to stay on so I tried pan frying and it was a success.  The dumplings were absolutely delicious and we all love them so these are the dumplings which the Cook Lisa Cook household will be enjoying from now on.  I made a huge tray of dumplings, fried them all up and then on a Silpat lined baking sheet I froze them (don’t allow them to touch one another.)  I then was able to transfer the fully cooked individually frozen dumplings to FoodSaver zipper bags and then I vacuumed out all the air using my FoodSaver .  This way whenever Maisie wants some dumplings I can easily pull out as many as she wants and heat them up and then easily seal up the rest so to keep them fresh and freezer burn-free.     

Pork Dumplings with Rice Wrappers

2.3 pounds ground pork
1.5 pounds Napa cabbage, shredded
3 TBS fresh grated ginger
6 large scallions, whites & greens sliced
12 TBS soy sauce 
3 TBS Shaoxing wine
3 TBS sesame oil 
1 package rice paper wrappers, round 16 cm

In a large bowl combine the ground pork, shredded cabbage, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and sesame oil and mix well.  To make the dumplings, one by one quickly soak a rice paper round in some warm water until pliable.  Lay the wrapper on a work surface and place some of the pork mixture in the center of the round.  Fold the rice paper around the pork as you would for an egg roll or wrap sandwich.  Lay the wrapped dumpling on a Silpat or oiled parchment paper lined baking sheet.  When ready to fry, heat a very thin layer of peanut oil (or oil of your choice) in a large fry pan.  Fry up both sides of the dumpling until the pork is cooked through and the wrapper is golden brown. 

Serve with Dumpling Dipping Sauce

Dumpling Dipping Sauce

2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup seasoned soy sauce for seafood (bottle will say "ideal for steamed fish")
3 TBS Shaoxing wine or rice wine
1 TBS rock sugar
2  teaspoons grated peeled ginger root
1 clove garlic, minced finely 
1 small chili pepper, thinly sliced into "coins"
4 TBS cilantro, medium chopped
1 scallion thinly sliced, mostly into rings and then some longer thin strips from the green end

In a pot over medium heat stir everything but the scallion together until the sugar melts and then allow to simmer for 3-4 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in scallion.  Allow to cool.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  I have kept this for a month and it's still great.  (I usually double this one as it keeps for so long)

Enjoy!!