Collard & Rice Dumplings with Mamba 9 Sauce

home recipes Lamb

Collard & Rice Dumplings with Mamba 9 Sauce

Here tender collards are wrapped around a filling of rice and lamb spiked with Japanese ingredients like sake and furikake, then baked in a barbecue-like sauce that gets sweetness from pineapple juice, for an incredibly flavorful dish. Dark leafy greens like collards are the base of the African Heritage Diet food pyramid, a pattern of eating that draws from the foodways of the African diaspora. You'll make more sauce than you need, but you won't be mad about it! Freeze it away and serve with grilled pork, chicken or tofu.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 132 kcal
Carbohydrates: 20g
Protein: 14g
Potassium: 347mg
Fiber: 5g
Sugar: 4g

Ingredients:

Mamba 9 Sauce

2 cups pineapple juice
1 cup tomato puree
½ cup hot sauce, such as Frank’s RedHot
½ cup diced onion
¼ cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon steak seasoning
½ teaspoon chili powder

Dumplings

12 large collard green leaves, large stems removed (about 1 pound)
3 tablespoons avocado, canola or grapeseed oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces ground lamb
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
2 cups cooled cooked short-grain rice
¼ cup sake or mirin
3 tablespoons furikake (see Note)
2 scallions, chopped

Instructions:

To prepare sauce: Combine pineapple juice, tomato puree, hot sauce, 1/2 cup onion, vinegar, 1 tablespoon garlic, paprika, steak seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder in a medium saucepan; stir to combine. Bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 1 hour. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender or regular blender, in batches if necessary.
Meanwhile, prepare dumplings: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place a bowl of ice water near the stove. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add collards and cook until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the leaves from the water and plunge into the ice water to cool. (Reserve 2 cups of the cooking water for Step 6.) Remove the leaves from the ice bath, squeezing out excess water. Lay the leaves flat on a baking sheet or clean work surface and set aside.
Combine oil, onion and garlic in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent but not browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add lamb; cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until the meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drain excess fat and return the mixture in the pan to medium heat. Stir in chili powder, salt and pepper, then add rice and sake (or mirin); cook, stirring, until combined and heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place 1 collard leaf on a flat surface and add about 1/4 cup of the filling at the bottom toward the stem end. Fold the bottom section of the leaf over the filling and toward the middle; bring both sides in toward the middle and tightly roll it up. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Arrange the dumplings, seam-side down, in a 9-by-13 inch baking dish. Pour 2 cups of collard-green cooking water around the dumplings. Bake until the dumplings are heated through, 15 to 20 minutes.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the dumplings to a serving platter. Top with 3/4 cup sauce (reserve the remaining sauce for another use), furikake and scallions.