Spring Chicken

Dare we say it? The April showers are finally over? One glorious day of sun! Hurrah. Although before we count our chickens before they hatch, how about a little light eating to get that spring in our step? Get involved people, very easy and very tasty. Ears and eyes wide open please.

As I've mentioned before, I love all things crunchy. The crunchy layer on top of a cake when it's fresh out of the oven, crisp wholemeal baguette (as opposed to soggy and white, yuck!) and well…you get the idea. So, I naturally love spring rolls. But as much as I love the flavour, there is something about the shape which does not leave as much room for crunch, as the dumpling family for example. Packaged up like little flowers, the mass surface area of wafer thin skins can't help but crisp up when fried. Hmmm…so onto the theory:

To make 8 fried dumplings

Ingredients

1. 1/2 chicken breast

2. 1 tbsp oyster sauce

3. 1 tbsp sesame oil

4. 1tsp garlic powder

5. 1 leaf of cabbage finely chopped

6. 2 sheet spring roll pastry (chop each pastry roll into 4 quarters)

Steps

1. Mince or finely chop the chicken and add all of the seasoning (The chicken will only cook through the heat of the oil, so make sure it is really fine)

2. Leave for 10mins

3. Take one quarter of the spring roll pastry, and lay on a flat surface. Put 1 tsp of the mixture in the middle and just bring all of the corners in.

4. Once you have made all 8, deep fry and eat!

Now, I'm sad to say that though I made my dumplings so well in my manufacturing stage, I did not put even oil in to deep fry and they did not keep their shape. Shame on me. Lesson learnt, and advise to be passed on! They only need a dip in the hot oil, so don't go anywhere, or let they die cajun style!