Jiao zi with leftover duck

I have no idea if these count as actual jiaozi (which are a form of Chinese dumpling). I am calling them jiaozi because the pre-made dumpling wrappers we had in the freezer were wheat-based dumpling wrappers from some Asian grocery store (not sure which one, they have been in that freezer for years…) I combined:

Leftover smoked duck meat (shredded and finely chopped)

A splash of soy sauce, a sprinkle of brown sugar, and a few grinds of pepper

and mixed this with a coconut-oil sauteed mixture of:

Shredded and chopped green cabbage

Finely chopped button mushroom stems

and a few sprinkles of powdered ginger and powdered garlic.

I mixed in a couple tablespoons of cornstarch (dissolved in water) to try to make sure the mixture would stick together and not fall out of the dumplings if they came open in cooking. They didn’t, so I’m not sure the cornstarch was needed, but if it was, it worked. Then I wrapped the mixture in the afore-mentioned dumpling wrappers. These are the kind where you rub a wet finger along the edge and then pinch the sides together to seal the dumpling closed.

I cooked the jiaozi like potstickers: in a cast iron skillet on high heat I first fried them briefly in beef tallow; then I added about a cup of water and a not-very-tight-fitting lid and let them steam until the water was gone. I tried cooking them in coconut oil as well but we agreed the beef tallow was better (though coconut oil smells better when you’re cooking.)

Those are five-year-old fingers reaching for one in the photo above, so yes, they were good.