fried-steamed dumplings (pot-stickers)
These fried-steamed dumplings, aka pot-stickers are really easy to make. Great to serve as snack food at a party. Or as part of your Chinese style dinner-party. Your guests will be impressed!
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
🥟 Main ingredients
- all purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- mushrooms
- shallot
- spring onion
- ginger
- garlic
- fresh coriander
- hot chilli paste
- soy sauce
- sesame oil
- sherry vinegar
- coco sugar
I adore dumplings (jiaozi), steamed, fried, boiled, or in soups. I love them always and everywhere. When I lived in China, I ate them all the time, and I would never think of making them myself, as they are everywhere.
But, back in Europe, I had to learn to master these delicious snacks. And fortunately i found that making dumplings is really not that hard. I guess the folding needs a bit of practise (and I am far from mastering it), but it’s okay, you can still make delicious dumplings without the perfect shapes. I am sure the folding technique will come with time, and meanwhile I just enjoy the slightly ‘off’ shapes 😉
💭 Tips for filling variations
You can be as creative as you want with the fillings. I always like to use lots of mushrooms, because I like that deep umami flavour with the spice. But you can use or add;
- cabbage
- dried tofu skin
- spinach
- vegetable mixture
- chopped nuts
- Add some ginger and garlic, et Voila!
In this recipe I made the accompanying sauce quiet strong, which is exactly how I like it. But if it is too strong for your taste, just add some water to it.
🍻 Beverage suggestion
As you know I always like to add some wine pairing suggestions with my recipes. Well, this one, sorry… I really would just go for a nice, cold and refreshing beer 😉
Enjoy these dumplings as a snack, a starter, or you might just want to make loads of them and have it as dinner. Great to enjoy with a refreshing herby salad.
*Added NOTE; These Dumplings freeze well! You can either freeze some ready made dough sheets; Separate them with a piece of baking paper (so they don’t stick. And freeze them for when you are ready to use them. Or you can freeze them while completed (with filling) but not cooked. Place them separately on a baking tray (with paper) and when ready to use thaw them partially and cook them as normal. Tested my https://emilyreiki.wordpress.com/ No quality of the dough (nor filling) was lost, just have to be careful they don’t touch as they would stick and become unusable.
📋 Recipe
Ingredients
- for the dough
- 190 g of all purpose flour
- 118 ml of hot water just boiled
- Cornstarch for dusting
- for the filling
- 4-5 large mushrooms
- 1 shallot chopped
- 1 spring onion chopped
- 1 tsp fresh ginger finely chopped
- 1 tsp garlic finely chopped
- 1 tbsp of fresh coriander finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp hot chilli paste
- salt
- splash of soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- for the sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sherry vinegar
- 2 tsp coco sugar
- 1 small garlic clove minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger minced
Instructions
- for the sauce
- Combine all the sauce ingredients, and set aside. (if too strong, dilute with water)
- for the dough
- Place the flour in a bowl, and make a well in the middle, slowly start adding the hot water while mixing.
- Once all the water is absorbed by the flour, make a ball with your hands, and start kneading for 2 minutes on a clean service.
- If the dough feels softened and not sticky cover it and leave to rest 30 minutes. (If the dough feels sticky add flour, if it feels too dry add some water).
- After 30 minutes with a rolling pin roll out the dough to a thickness of about 2 mm (on a clean and dusted surface).
- With the use of a cup to make and cut circles. Make sure that the dough which you are not working with is always covered, as it dries out very quickly.
- for the filling
- in a food processor add all ingredients except the splash of soy sauce and sesame oil. Pulse a few times so the ingredients are well chopped and combined, but not mushy.
- Heat the sesame oil in a pan, add the mixture, and stir fry for approx. 4-5 minutes.
- Add a splash of soy sauce, stir for 1 more minute, and set aside to cool down.
- When you have your wonton rounds ready, and the filling has cooled down you can start making the dumpling.
- Place 1 heaped teaspoon in the middle of your wonton round. Wet the edges if the dough, and fold the circle into a half circle (half moon shape). Fold the edge together by carefully pinching every half a centimetre ( 0.2 inch), see picture.
- When all the dumplings are filled, heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a pan and add the dumpling flat side down.
- Fry them until the bottoms are browned, approx. 2-3 mintes
- Add a good splash of water, and cover the pan, steam the dumplings for approx. 3 minutes
- Take the cover of the pan, and continue cooking until the water has avaporated.
- Serve hot, with the sauce in a separate bowl.
Notes
Nutrition
This Dumpling recipe is part of my new series; ‘Travels of taste‘. We use our taste buds to travel the world and discover the use of our senses and imaginations to meet other cultures through food. So today we find ourselves in China. If you are ready to imagine yourself travelling through China whilst discovering all its flavours. Check out my full China ‘travels of taste’ post; >>> China, It’s all about FOOD!
