Wednesday, March 12, 2008

potstickers for two

Have I mentioned yet how any food that requires a lot of fingerwork is pretty much destined to get made in my kitchen at some point? Also, I'm trying not to do groceries for a bit, and I had seitan in the freezer, so..... yeah, I made (sort of) chinese dumplings! Extremely yummy, and since I faked out a recipe I'll send it back out to you guys. One thing though - the filling could do with maybe 3/4 cup of vegetables (like celery or steamed cabbage), and the wrappers ended up being very thick - you could probably make 18 dumplings out of this and that would take care of the extra filling. I just vowed not to do groceries. Anyway, enjoy! This was a killer lunch!

~ Potstickers For Two ~

Won Ton Wrapper Dough:


1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp warm water

- mix together the flours in a medium sized bowl, then add the water and knead on a floured surface for about 10 minutes, or until it's soft and pliable.
- cover tightly with plastic and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Seitan Filling:

1 cup seitan, crumbled (I used Vcon simple seitan)
2-3 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked and minced
2 scallions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, grated
2 tsp tamari
2 tsp cooking sherry
1 tsp cornstarch

- mix together in a bowl and let it sit for about 20 minutes to let the flavour develop.

Hot Chile Dipping Sauce:

3 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp hot chile oil or sesame oil
1/4 tsp brown sugar

- combine and (yep, you guessed it) let it sit for a few minutes... oh, about 20.


Putting It All Together:

1. Divide the wonton dough into 12 equal pieces. Cover unused dough in plastic wrap, then take a piece and roll it out on a floured surface until it's a circle about 4 inches across.

2. Hold the wrapper in your non-dominant hand, then put one tablespoon of the seitan filling in the center and wet the outside of the circle with water. Crimp the top together like a purse, then fold the top side of the wrapper in on itself as you seal it to the edges, squeezing excess air out as you go (there's no way I can describe this well enough, so here's a video.)

3. Put a kettle on to boil.

4. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat, lightly oil it, then place the potstickers flat-side down in the pan and heat until golden and crispy on the bottom. Pour 1/2 cup of the boiling water into the pan, cover, and let them steam for about 7 minutes, or until all the water is gone.

5. When the pan is dry and the bottoms are crispy again, plate them up with a little bowl of dipping sauce, break out your chopsticks and eat!

(damn, these were savoury delicious. And sooooo cute!)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

How awesome is this! I love gyoza, but can never find the wonton wrappers locally- Thank you so much for the recipe for the dough! Now I can finally fulfill my craving. :)

Steffi said...

impressive, girl! I've though of making my own dumplings but I'm so surrounded by Asian groceries I always buy them...

Rural Vegan said...

Those dumplings are so stinking cute! I'm impressed that you made your own dough!

Vegan_Noodle said...

They are folded so perfectly!! Does sound like a yummy lunch. And the filling possibilities are endless...

Anonymous said...

It's awesome that you made your own dough.

And won't someone tell me who Jackson Pollack is?!

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

I was listening to Tori Amos today and I thought of you! Every time I look at your blog, I start singing "Cornflake Girl" in my mind...well, I change the words to "Kamutflake Girl" when I'm reading your blog, but you get the picture!

VeganCowGirl said...

They Look Great! I had such a hard time with the pot stickers from Vegan Planet - I recall a very cranky vegan giving up after about 45 minutes of wrestling with my wrappers...I like the idea of making your own dough. Will give it a try.

Ashasarala said...

These look incredible! Thanks so much for sharing. I always have trouble with the V-Con Seitan recipe, though. The seitan always shrinks back to the center no matter how hard I try squeezing it!

Anonymous said...

wow, they look too good not to remake! i haven't made the dough myself for such a long time - what a great idea to use wheat flour!!!

Carrie said...

Oh man - I am so excited to try these!! Thanks for the recipe!

Veggie said...

Hi Vegyogini,
I thought that song must have been the inspiration for the name of this blog.
Now that song is in my head.

Kamutflake Girl,
I tried to make chinese dumplings from scratch once. The dough was time consuming and then they stuck to the bottom of my steamer.
(Maybe next time I'll try lining the bottom with parchment paper)

The Won Tons look great! Now I want to make some.

Calogero said...

They must be delicious!