Furry Balls

Furry Balls:

(adapted from the Woman's Weekly Low Fat cookbook)

INGREDIENTS

400g lean chicken or pork mince
2 green onions, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2cm piece fresh ginger (10g), grated
¼ teaspoon five-spice powder (or a mix of ground Szeuan pepper and star anise)
(½ cup (50g) packaged breadcrumbs)**
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh coriander
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh thai basil
1 egg
24 gow gee wrappers


Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce
1/3 cup (80ml) sweet chilli sauce
¼ cup (60ml) red wine vinegar
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh coriander

METHOD

Using hands, combine chicken or pork, onion, garlic, ginger, five-spice, breadcrumbs, sauce, herbs and egg in large bowl. Roll level tablespoons of the mixture into balls; place balls on tray. Cover;
refrigerate 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make sweet chilli dipping sauce.

Brush one wrapper with water; place one chicken ball in centre of wrapper. Fold wrapper over to completely enclose chicken ball. Pleat edge of wrapper along join; repeat process with remaining wrappers and chicken balls.

Place gow gees, in single layer, about 1cm apart in baking-paper-lined steamer fitted over large saucepan of boiling water; steam, covered, about 8 minutes or until gow gees are cooked through.

Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce
Place ingredients in screw-top jar; shake well.

** Furry finds that if you work the chicken with your hands, you don't need quite this much breadcrumbs. Giving the chicken a good knead releases the proteins, making the raw mince "sticky", and so binds the filling together and creates a nicer, less bready end-product