I've made pot stickers before, but was really excited to see that the Daring Cooks challenge was -drumroll- pot stickers! This month's challenge was hosted by Jen from use real butter had pretty flexible requirements - really, the main thing was to make your own dough to form the wrappers. In all the time that I've made potstickers, I've never done this - I would buy wrappers at the grocery store and just have at. It's the same way I make ravioli, generally, as well.
I'm sort of all about the filling.
This time, however, I settled myself into the idea and prepared to curse and then be delighted. I gathered up a soda bottle (switched, quickly, for a whiskey one) to use as a rolling pin and hopped to.
Given Recipe: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches - or just halve the filling recipe)
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (113g) warm water
- flour for work surface
Make the dough: In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch.
And then: Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking - about 1/16th inch. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side.
-
Now. I had a pretty good time with the dough. I rolled it out in very small batches and then made a turkey filling.
- ground turkey
- brown sugar (a few spoons)
- diced onion
- diced garlic (a few cloves)
- sesame oil
- honey (a drizzle or two, really)
- soy sauce
- grated ginger
- cayenne pepper
- sweet basil seeds
I cooked the garlic, onion, ginger, and basil seeds in a little butter, then added the ground turkey. A little salt, a little pepper, a drizzle of honey and the sesame oil and soy sauce (to taste). Cook through, add cayenne (if using) and taste. I love sesame oil, so I generally add more and have found that I usually end up with a little more sweetness than spice. It's delicious!
I spooned the filling into my wrappers, closed them up, and - despite a deep deep love of steaming these babies - tossed them in with a little butter and pan fried them.
My dipping sauce is honey, sesame oil, and soy sauce - given circumstances, I would add sweet rice wine to mix in, but I was out. At any rate. It was delicious. I'm planning on trying it again soon with a different type of filling (one that will have actual measurements, etc, sorry guys!) but I was pretty pleased with myself.
