Sunflower-crusted quark dumplings with leeks and onion-ginger cream

The day before, put all the quark as purchased in a clean cloth set in a sieve over a bowl. Cover and drain for 12 hours in the refrigerator at no more than 4 °C, then squeeze gently. Discard the liquid and retain all the resulting curd. The next day, weigh 100 g seeds for the dough and 100 g for the crust. Dry-toast these batches separately for about 5 minutes each without burning. Cool for 10 minutes. Grind the first batch finely and the second coarsely.

Let the butter soften. Separate the eggs, retaining all whites and yolks. Combine drained quark, yolks, softened butter, semolina, finely ground seeds, nutmeg, 3.5 g salt and 0.5 g pepper. Whip the whites with 1 g salt and fold in gently without deflating. Cover and refrigerate for 60 minutes.

Peel the onions and chop, reserve 200 g for the leeks and use 300 g here. Brown them slowly in 22.5 ml oil for about 40 minutes, stirring often without burning. Add tomato paste for 3 minutes, then peel the ginger and garlic, chop and add for 1 minute. Deglaze with 150 ml stock, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Add chile, 0.5 g salt and 0.1 g pepper. Reduce for about 15 minutes until thick and creamy and keep hot.

Trim and thoroughly wash the leeks and cut into pieces about 1.5 cm. Blanch for 1 minute in the allocated 200 ml stock. Drain over a bowl to retain all that stock. Soften the reserved onions in 30 ml oil for about 8 minutes, then stir in the flour for 1 minute. Whisk in the reserved stock, apple juice, lemon juice and cream. Add honey, 3 g salt and 0.3 g pepper. Simmer for 3 minutes to cook the flour, return all the leeks and keep hot.

With damp hands, shape all the dough into about 16 equally sized small dumplings. Poach in small batches in a large pot of unsalted water held just below boiling for about 12 minutes until floating and at least 75 °C at the centre for 30 seconds. Lift gently with a skimmer, drain and roll in all the reserved coarsely ground seeds. Divide all the dumplings, leek ragout and onion-ginger cream among portions. Also serve any toasted seeds left in the coating dish.