Monday, May 2, 2011

Meal Plan Monday: Homemade Pot Stickers :)

First of all, Congratulations to Julie of Online Inspiration :) You won our Curtainworks Giveaway :) Please send me an email, with your email address and we'll get work'in on getting you your New Sheers. Thank you to everyone who entered, you made our first giveaway awesome we were overwhelmed by the number of entries :) and another Thank you to Curtainworks for providing a great pair of springy sheers made from Recycled Fibers, to one of our fabulous readers :)

Today's Meal Plan Monday is all about Homemade Potstickers. A potsticker is an Asian Dumpling or as my eastern European husband calls them, Asian pierogis :) hehe
I'm sure most of you know what Potstickers are, and chances are you probably love them as much as we do. But one thing I can guarantee is that if you like the frozen ones from Costco, you'll LOVE our fresh, homemade recipe. THEY'RE sooooo Easy and soooooo Yummy.
Tonight we are having these along side fried rice and a salad with peppers, radishes and an Asian dressing :)

Here's our super easy potsticker recipe:

3/4 cup finely chopped or shredded nappa cabbage (or savory cabbage)
6oz lean ground pork
1-2 tbsp grated ginger
3 green onions, finely chopped, plus one more for garnish
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 package (24pc's) wonton or gyoza wrappers (either one, they're very similar)
2tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water
In a bowl combine the cabbage, pork, ginger. green onions, soy, and sesame oil. Mix well! (we also add some water chestnuts to the mix.) This mixture should be refrigerated for an hour or so before you use it, just to let the flavors blend. You could also make this mix ahead of time and keep for up to 2 days.
Here's how we assemble them:
 We take the wrappers out of the package:
We put a small blob of filling (about a tbsp worth) in the middle of one wrapper:
Wet our fingers and rub the water all around the edge of the wrapper (the water is the GLUE):
Pinch the middle together:
Move around pinching the edges together, if it's not sticking use more water!
To cook:
In a large skillet with a tight fitting lid, heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in the pan. Add as many potstickers that will fit in the pan in one layer, turn once, just to get them brown on each side (about 1 min per side).
Once browned, add a 1/2 cup of water (watch out it will splatter) cover with the lid and steam until the wrappers are translucent, about 2-3 min. Done, did I forget to mention it's super fast too :)

For dipping sauce there's two choices,
Choice 1) just a dish of soy sauce, with some green onions mixed in.
Choice 2) A potsticker dipping sauce
                    1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
                    1 tbsp Soy Sauce
                    1 chopped green onion
*we're big spicy fans so a little chili oil is added!

Here's our Asian salad dressing recipe:
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root (we peel ours, then keep it in the freezer, we pull out the frozen root and grate into what ever we need, then pop the rest back into the freezer)
  • 1/4cup olive oil
  • 1/4 sesame oil
  • 1/3 cup rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 1/4 cup water
  • splash of lime juice
We make a salad with some mixed field greens, a red pepper, some red onion, and radishes :) 
So that's our Asian Potsticker Dinner night :) I really hope  you try them, not only are they delicious, they are really cheap to make!
And in case you were wondering, YES they do freeze really well :) We make them in huge batches and freeze them for later :)

We freeze them flat on a baking sheet, then pack them into ziploc freezer bags :) (Don't forget to label)

20 comments:

  1. Yum! Will definitely give this one a try. They sound delicious, and couldn't be easier.

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  2. I'm trying to get back to my healthy lifestyle and eating better (among other things.) I would love for you to share this on my YUM-Monday link party (going on NOW!)

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  3. Yum!! I LOVE me some potstickers!

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  4. Mmmm...looks delicious! I may have to add this one to this weeks' menu.
    Roxanne

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  5. Just noticed that there is a ziploc bag labelled specifically for Ashli - did you change up the ingredients for yourself?

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  6. that's a great recipe - one question - do you cook them all and THEN freeze - or just put them together and freeze in order to cook at a later date?

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  7. Thanks for this!! Can't wait to try and I love the idea of making a bunch to freeze for later. These look delicious!

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  8. We just freeze them un-coooked and pull them out, thaw them and then cook them :)
    Hope that Helps :)
    And the bag specially labeled Ashli are exactly the same recipe, I just like less filling in them, I mostly like the crunchy skin :) Lee likes tons of filling in his, so I make small ones for me and big ones for Lee :) Same cook time and everything, the pictures of the filling are Lee sized :)

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  9. Too funny - I *just* made vegan potstickers today! Glad to see others out there are making their own too :)

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  10. Oh and a tip I learned the hard way - I usually dust the bottoms with cornstarch before freezing... I have had a few freeze to the pan, or to each other if I wasn't careful. It doesn't change the taste at all and helps them get a little crispier in the pan!

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  11. I love all kinds of dumplings and wantons. I cooked it mostly every week. Yours sound like a great recipe. Will give it a try next time. You fold the dumplings really beautifully.

    I am glad I found your lovely blog, now following!

    Have a wonderful day!

    Jessie
    www.mixandchic.com

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  12. Love this! I may just make these...without the meat! You make it seem much less complicated than I first thought. :)
    And I didn't know your husband was Eastern European, neato! Being an American "mutt" I always find it interesting when people know EXACTLY where their heritage is from.

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  13. I love all your recipes! I am going to have to bookmark this!

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  14. Thanks so much Erika! Dusting with cornstarch is a GREAT idea, I will definitely do that next time!!!
    Thanks

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  15. I can't wait to try these!

    So you don't brown the pork, you just put it in raw and it cooks in the wrapper?

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  16. nom nom nom. I have a tendency to set the oil on fire when cooking frozen ones, so we save those for soup. + organic box broth, frozen veg and some rice noodles (okay, I toss an egg in too). Best.weeknight.comfortfood ever ^_^

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  17. I just wanted to say thank you so much for this recipe! My husband and I made these a few nights ago and they came out great! So delicious :) We couldn't find wonton wrappers at the supermarket so I made some from scratch using this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Wonton-Wrappers/Detail.aspx. Thanks again. And love your blog, btw. :)

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  18. Jackie- You made my day!!!! I'm so glad you and the hubs liked them! and you made your own wrappers BONUS POINTS! Thanks for the link I'm going to look those up :)
    Thanks again for letting me know!

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  19. Love dumplings and wontons, i will definately try these!

    Fatima

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  20. Ashli-
    Thanks for the step by step recipe. We had these tonight. YUM! They were top notch!!! Elegant meal, yet my 4 kids LOVED them too! Made both the sauce and the salad dressing. I plan on making them with my cooking club group & everyone can take home their pot stickers to freeze! LOVE your blog! Keep those great recipes coming!

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