Pot Stickers, a healthy version.

This is another recipe from my new cookbook. I am loving all of the things that I have tried so far and I have a list of over 100 recipes from the book that I am wanting to try. So that should keep this section of the blog going for at least the rest of the year. Although I will keep throwing out some of my families favorite foods and some things that I find from other locations.

Today's recipe is for Chicken Pot Stickers. It is a really easy basic recipe that I can already see a million variations for. So here it goes. I realize that this isn't the healthiest that these can get, but I know that they are much better than the pork stuffed with a zillion extra calories and preservatives type that you buy in the freezer section.

Chicken Pot Stickers.

2 T chili sauce (I left this part out of the girls sauce)
1 T finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 T Teriyaki Sauce
1 t rice wine vinegar
1 t peeled fresh diced ginger
pinch cayenne (again I left this out of the girls)

1/2 lb ground skinless chicken breast (I used turkey because that was what I had)
1/2 c finely shredded napa cabbage (sometimes labeled chinese cabbage)
1 scallion minced
2 t soy sauce (I used Bragg's Liquid Amino's)
1 t cornstarch dissolved in 2 t water
1/4 t mustard powder
1/8 t ground black pepper
20 (3 in square) wonton skins

4 t peanut oil
1 c chicken stock
1 t all-purpose flour
1 T toasted sesame seeds

1) To prepare sauce, in a small bowel, combine the chili sauce, cilantro, teriyaki sauce, vinegar, ginger and cayenne.

2) To prepare the filling, in a medium bowel combine the chicken, cabbage, scallion, soy sauce, dissolved cornstarch, mustard and pepper.

3) Cover the wontons with plastic wrap; have a small bowel of water near your work area. Working with 1 wonton wrapper at a time, spoon 2 teaspoons of the filling into the center of each wonton skin. Moisten the edges with water; fold diagonally to form a triangle. Seal the edges, pressing out all the air. Repeat with the remaining wonton's and filling.

4) In a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil until it is almost smoking. Place the dumplings in a circle in the skillet; reduce the heat slightly and cook until the bottoms are golden brown 5-7 minutes.

5) Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the stock to a boil. Remove from the heat; sprinkle in the flour ans stir until dissolved. Pour the broth over the dumplings; cook, partially covered, until all of the liquid evaporates. Uncover and cook until the bottoms are crisp. Carefully loosen the dumplings with a spatula. Serve with sesame seeds sprinkled on top and sauce on the side.

DD's notes.

1) These are a pretty plain recipe, the flavor is in the sauce. The next time that I make them I think I will be mixing the ginger and cilantro into the meat mixture instead of just putting it in the sauce. I might also add some finely grated carrots.

2) This recipe is so easy to double it almost asks for it. Wonton wrappers are sold by the group of 50 in my grocery store, not 20, so I had plenty. I doubled this recipe and had enough filling to fill all 50 wrappers. I froze the second batch on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on top and then packaged into groups of 5-6. They cook from frozen exactly the same as fresh.

3) I made a lot more dipping sauce than it called for so that each person had their own mixture based on their individual taste.

4) While this is an easy recipe the wrapping of the dumplings takes a while. I spent roughly 30 minutes just on that part of the recipe. So make sure that you have the time to do that. I also folded the corners in so that the dumplings looked like an open envelope instead of leaving them in a triangle, I thought that they looked better that way, and that they took up less room in the pan.

5) The first time I made this I tried to use a pan that was too small and crowded them in. That was a BAD plan. They ended up all cooked into one huge mass. So when you cook them make sure that they aren't touching in the pan, it makes it a million times easier to get out at the end.