Duck dumplings usually mean either a restaurant bill or an afternoon of pastry making, and these are neither. Rice paper stands in for the wrapper, tinned duck and teriyaki do all the flavour work, and ten of them come out of one pan in about twenty five minutes with 25g of protein a serving.
I got the idea standing in front of a bottle of teriyaki thinking about crispy Peking duck. Those two things have no business being in the same sentence, and yet here we are.
Rice paper is the most versatile thing in my cupboard and I say that having already turned it into lasagna, chips and a tarte tatin. Here it goes glassy and blistered the way a good gyoza does, with no flour involved.
- Ten dumplings from one bowl of filling, no pastry and no rolling pin
- 25g of protein a serving, almost all of it from a tin
- One pan, twenty five minutes, no special kit
Key Ingredients
Tinned duck is the whole trick. It is already cooked and already seasoned, so it shreds straight out of the tin and brings 24g of protein per 100g without you touching the hob. Shredded cooked chicken will do at a push, though you lose the richness that makes these taste like something you ordered.
Teriyaki sauce handles the seasoning, the sweetness and the glaze all at once, which is why one tablespoon across the whole batch is plenty. Most bottles carry wheat through the soy sauce, so if you need these gluten free, reach for a tamari based teriyaki instead.
Rice paper replaces the flour wrapper entirely. Cut each round into quarters, hydrate two at a time, and you get a wrapper that crisps rather than goes doughy. It is the same technique as my steamed salmon rice paper dumplings, just pan fried instead of steamed.
Spring onion and garlic keep the filling from tasting flat. Duck and teriyaki are both rich and sweet, and you need that raw bite cutting through.
Sesame oil is for the pan, not the filling. A third of a tablespoon is enough and it is what gives the bases their toasted, nutty edge.
A Note From Me
The lid is what makes or breaks these. Sesame oil on its own will crisp the bottom and leave the top chewy, so you add a tablespoon of water and cover the pan immediately, which steams the rice paper through while the base sears. Lift the lid too early and you get crisp bottoms on raw wrappers. It is exactly the principle behind a proper gyoza.
On the protein, 25g from a 236 calorie portion is a good ratio, and tinned meat is an easy way to get there without cooking anything. If you build meals around a number rather than guessing, here is roughly how much protein you need. One honest flag, sodium sits around 890mg a serving between the teriyaki and the duck, so taste before you reach for the salt.
Alex 🙂
Teriyaki Duck Dumplings (Crispy Rice Paper, High Protein)
Crispy teriyaki duck dumplings made with rice paper instead of flour wrappers. Tinned duck and a single tablespoon of teriyaki do all the work, the pan does the rest, and you get ten gyoza style dumplings with 25g of protein a serving. No pastry, no folding skills, twenty five minutes start to finish.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Tip the duck into a bowl and shred it with a fork. Add the spring onion, garlic, teriyaki sauce and a pinch of salt and pepper, then mix until everything is evenly coated. If the mix feels dry and will not clump together when you press it, loosen it with a splash of water or a little extra teriyaki, it needs to hold its shape to pinch shut.
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Cut or snip each rice paper sheet into 4 equal pieces. You want 20 pieces in total, which is 2 per dumpling.
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Dip two pieces briefly in warm water until they are just pliable, no longer, then lay them overlapping on a board and spoon about 1 tbsp of filling into the middle.
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Fold the edges inwards over the filling and pinch the top closed in a gyoza style pleat. Repeat until you have 10 dumplings.
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Heat the sesame oil in a non stick pan over medium heat. Once it is hot, add the dumplings in a single layer with a little space between them.
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Add 1 tbsp of water to the pan and cover it immediately so the steam is trapped. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, then uncover, turn the dumplings and crisp them on all sides for another 3 to 4 minutes.
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Serve straight away, scattered with extra spring onion and a drizzle of chilli oil if you like.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2 ServingCalories:236kcalTotal Fat:7.6gSaturated Fat: 2.3gSodium:890mgTotal Carbohydrate:18.3gDietary Fiber: 0.7gSugars: 3.1gProtein:24.9g
Note
- Sodium runs to about 890mg a serving, mostly from the teriyaki and the tinned duck, which is seasoned in the tin. Taste the filling before you add any salt, you will usually find it does not need it.
- These are not gluten free as written. Most teriyaki sauces contain wheat through the soy sauce. Swap in a tamari based or certified gluten free teriyaki and the rest of the recipe is naturally gluten free.
- Do not over soak the rice paper. A couple of seconds in warm water is enough, it keeps softening on the board. Soggy sheets tear when you pinch them and will not crisp properly.
- The chilli oil and the extra spring onion are optional garnishes and are not counted in the nutrition figures.
- Swap the duck for shredded chicken, cooked pork mince or firm tofu using the same quantities and method.
- Best eaten straight from the pan. Rice paper turns chewy once it cools, so these do not reheat or freeze well.
- Nutrition values are estimates. Duck and teriyaki figures are taken from the Vilgain product labels, everything else uses UK standard averages.
