My old roommate had some Corningware bowls with lids, and when I moved last month I went to the Corningware store in the mall to get some of my own.
I couldn’t resist picking up some odd knick knacks like a cheap egg yolk separator and a dumpling press. I’ve eaten potstickers (chinese steamed dumplings) many times, but I’ve never made them…finally, today, I decided to give it a try. After all, I already had all the tools.
Unfortunately the store was out of ground pork…undaunted, I realized that I’m a wild an crazy guy and decided to use ground lamb instead.
Wow, these turned out so good even my 6 year old son went back for seconds–and that’s AFTER I gave him a dinner of mac and cheese because I was afraid he wouldn’t like the potstickers!
(The ones at the top of the picture are upside down, and you can see the pan seared bottoms. If you’ve never had potstickers, they’re supposed to be brown/carmelized on the bottom like that..that’s why they’re called potstickers. )
I guess annie is really into potsticker ! Actually, so am I. My husband makes them every once in a while and they are definitely a treat. Oh, one thing. If you keep your wrappers in the freezer, try to remember that they are there. I finally cleaned out our freezer—I was right to think it was going to be somewhat like cleaning up Love Canal—and I found no fewer than FIVE partly opened packages of wrappers. If you look at the wrappers and think they are all crumbled up and that you should get new ones, then throw the darned old ones away!!! Sorry. Very nice photo.
very easy…basically the meat is a meatloaf type recipe…meat, a little braised cabbage, some green onion, soy sauce, an egg, and sesame oil, all squished up together and then dropped into the dumpling wrapper. Don’t even need a press..it just makes things a little simpler.
We have lots of Asian markets (mostly pan-Asian, heavy on Chinese/Vietnamese ingredients) here in the SF Bay area, but although wonton and potsticker wrappers are easy to find, my wife still grumbles that they aren’t up to the selection available in Hong Kong.
As far as I can tell, the difference is that there you can get fresh (not frozen) wrappers that are thinner than the perfectly tasty, if chewier, frozen variety. And after the obligatory grumble, she still makes potstickers.
We do use pork, but chop it up with a food processor (and, usually, an admixture of shrimp, green onions, etc). And we fold them by hand rather than using a press - with a little practice, it’s just as fast (trick- lightly moisten the insides of the seal with cold water before pressing), especially since the whole family usually sits around the table folding them together. Rather than bother with small quantities, we make enough to feed a dozen or so hungry people & freeze most of them for later meals.
Try them with with a steaming bowl of hot and sour soup on the side. And a sprinkel of chinese red vinegar (or louisiana hot sauce) on the potsticker just before biting it.
I got my wrappers at Target…the package said “won ton wrapper” but they were a lot thinner than won tons that I’ve had before.
My food processor broke about a year ago, and I used it so infrequently that I haven’t replaced it Looks like I’ll have to do that soon. I can see where one could gain the skill in folding the dumpling by hand..but at the moment the press is a handy crutch
Sriracha sauce . . . oh, yeah. Chili oil works, too (and is really Chinese), but I’ll admit a fondness for Tabasco.
Actually, thinner-than-usual won ton wrappers is good - my wife’s biggest complaint is that most of the wrappers she can find are too thick.
Home-made won ton soup is one of my comfort foods. Right up there with Szechaun eggplant, hot-and-sour soup, and pepper-salt or spicy dark soy sauce chicken wings. It sounds weird when I say that - I hadn’t tasted any of them except (very bad) won ton soup until I was over 20.
Going the other way, my wife’s biggest non-Chinese food obsessions are sushi, prime rib, and . . . ?liver and onions? (Never have understood that last - about the only way I like liver is in pate’)
I did a quick web search for won ton wrapper recipes. Looks relatively straightforward, basically a kind of egg noodle. I’m thinking I could make them quickly with my tortilla press!
My problem with dumplings is that they really like to blow up. I do my best to squeeze all the moisture out of the filling and make sure there’s no air in the dumplings, but always about half of them turn into balloons, and maybe 10% explode. (same thing happens when I make ravioli) Is there a trick to avoiding this?
I didn’t even bother trying to squeeze out any moisture or air. I made the meatloaf-ish mixture, put a wrapper on the press, put a 3/4 teaspoon of mixture on the wrapper, folded over, and that was it. Repeat about 40 times.
I didn’t have any problems with the dumplings ballooning up…I wonder what’s causing that in yours.
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! Actually, so am I. My husband makes them every once in a while and they are definitely a treat. Oh, one thing. If you keep your wrappers in the freezer, try to remember that they are there. I finally cleaned out our freezer—I was right to think it was going to be somewhat like cleaning up Love Canal—and I found no fewer than FIVE partly opened packages of wrappers. If you look at the wrappers and think they are all crumbled up and that you should get new ones, then throw the darned old ones away!!! Sorry. Very nice photo.
