Monday, September 17, 2007

Fake Out Take Out

My husband loves potstickers, anytime we go anywhere that has them, he orders them. Our favorite place for happy hour has their pot stickers 1/2 price, and believe me, he gets very excited when we have them.
One of the best things I have learned from the Food Blog Circle & What's Cooking message board is that you really can make anything if you try. So many things I have been too intimidated to make. I, like many others, will find a recipe & say, oh that looks too hard, or I can't find those ingredients. Then I come across other women, like me, who have been successful at making this "difficult" items. So Cara & your Indian Food, Elly & The Greek Food, & this week, Shawnda & her pot stickers. Thanks for inspiring me & making me a better cook!

Potstickers with Orange Sesame Dipping Sauce
http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/?p=254
1/2 lb ground pork
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup chives
2/3 cup green onions
1 cup Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Wonton wrappers (about 30)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 recipe Orange Sesame dipping sauce, for serving (follows)

Cook the ground pork over medium heat until done*. Add the remaining ingredients (through garlic) and cook until the greens are wilted nicely. Let mixture cool just a bit and add it to the bowl of a food processor. Process the filling until it reaches the desired consistency.

Lay a wrapper on a flat, dry surface put a Tbsp of mixture in in the middle. Using your fingers or a pastry brush (save the dirty-dish sink space - use your fingers), wet the wonton wrapper surrounding the filling and fold the dumpling, pressing the seams together: bring two opposite corners to the center, bring the remaining corners to the center one at a time and press tightly.

Add oil to a skillet (a clean skillet) and add dumplings. Add 1/3 cup water to the pan and cover tightly. Remove from heat when the dumplings are golden brown on one side (about 4 minutes).

* I fear raw pork so I pre-cooked the filling. You can prepare the potstickers “raw” just be sure to adjust the cooking time.

Orange Sesame dipping sauce (measurements are approximate) 1 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp lite soy sauce
2 Tbsp chives
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp orange juice

Whisk together all ingredients, adjust seasoning to taste.

Now for my notes: I cooked the pork before too, I was not keen on it being raw, plus it was easier to process. This made a ton of potstickers & I still had filling leftover to make some more, I was just too tired. I added a little hot chile sauce to the dipping sauce for some extra spice!
This was perfect for my husband & I on a Saturday night. We had to both work later in the evening, so going out was really not an option.

2 comments:

Leslie said...

Yum! I will have to try because I have been wanting to work with wonton wrappers lately. Strange craving, I know. These look great!

Amanda said...

These look so yummy!! I absolutely love poptstickers and so this will be added to my MUST TRY list!