This recipe has a number of seafood ingredients aside from chicken. The most interesting ingredient is probably the sea cucumber, which is a marine animal that resembles a cucumber. They are very nutritious, chock full of vitamins and trace elements, and are considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. They are rarely found fresh, but can usually be found dried or frozen in Asian grocery stores. Sea cucumbers are crunchy when cooked, with a texture like that of cooked jellyfish or squid, and will add texture and crunch to the dumplings. Because sea cucumbers are bland in taste, shrimps and clams will provide most of the flavor for the dumplings, giving this dumpling a distinct seafood taste.
Ingredients:
Chicken breast, 1/2 cup
Shortneck clam, 1/2 cup
Sea cucumber, 1/2 cup
Shrimp, 1 cup
Soy sauce, 2 tablespoon
Salt, 1 teaspoon
Szechuan pepper powder, 1/3 teaspoon
Sesame oil, 2 tablespoon
Ginger, 1 teaspoon
Green onion, 1 tablespoon
Instructions:
1. Mince chicken breast, or use store-bought ground chicken meat. Organic chicken is preferable. Add soy sauce, Szechuan pepper powder, and minced ginger to the ground meat and mix.
2. Rinse the shortneck clams and put them in boiling water until they start to open. Remove from the boiling water into cold water, shuck the clams, and finely chop the clam meat.
3. If the sea cucumber is dried, first hydrate them for several hours in cold water. If they are frozen, thaw under warm water. Then, cut the sea cucumber along its length, and rinse out and remove its gut. The “meat” of the sea cucumber has a spongy texture. Chop that into small pieces.
4. Add the clam and the sea cucumber to the chicken meat. Also add finely chopped green onion, sesame oil, and salt, and mix well. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
5. Roll out the wrapper dough into wrappers.
6. Wrap the filling in the dumpling wrappers.
7. Boil a pot of water, and add a dash of salt to the boiling water.
8. Cook the dumplings in boiling water for 15 minutes, and then strain and serve with your favorite condiment.
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