Another Foodie Friday submission from The Erratic Cook, a chef in her own mind from right here in Okotoks.

I decided to make pot stickers because I was craving them.

I used what ingredients I had on hand.

My disclaimer – as usual – this is a guideline, and the measurements are approximate and ingredients can be added or subtracted as you please.

Potstickers

First of all:

½ white onion chopped fine

1 cup or so of kale salad chopped fine (This is what I had on hand, any cabbage or other such greens would work too)

garlic

ginger

sauté these ingredients in a little sesame oil

Then

In a big bowl combine:

1 lb Ground pork

2 T soy sauce

1 T each oyster and hoisin sauce

1 cup cooked quinoa

fresh mint and cilantro minced (I would have added basil too if I had any)

salt and pepper

1 t chili garlic paste

1 egg

Add the onion/salad sauté

Mix all together

Now for the wrapping:

Package of wonton wrappers

Have a small bowl of water on hand and a damp towel to keep over the wrappers and the finished pot stickers. Separate a couple of wonton wrappers lay them out and dip your fingers in the water and brush around the edge of the wrapper. Place a small amount of filling in the center of each wrapper and pinch all the edges together. Continue this process until either all the filling, or your mind, is gone! It can get a bit tedious. You may want to recruit help especially if you decide to double the recipe. I had the tunes cranked and that helped.

I ended up with 42 pot stickers in the freezer and 12 to eat right away.

To freeze, don’t cook, lay the freshly assembled potstickers out on a pan so they don’t touch, freeze, then place frozen potstickers in freezer bags.

To cook and enjoy straight away:

Get a fry pan and heat a couple tablespoons of cooking oil.

Add the pot stickers and cook until bottoms are browned a bit.

Now for the splattery tricky part.

Have the pan cover ready – use it as a shield – I’m not kidding!!!

You are now going to add a cup or so of water (hmmm hot oil and water) – stand as far back as possible – wear oven mitts and a welding mask and maybe one of those radiation cover up apron thingys or maybe just a full on haz mat suit – what ever you do, do not attempt this step naked! – Okay, now, throw in the water – quickly very, very quickly, put the cover on! Clean up the spatter that is now all over the place! This is a dangerous step and you may want to try a different, safer method.

But they are soooo yummy and soooo worth it all! Keep the lid on for approx 5 to 10 minutes, check at about the 5 minute mark to see if it needs more water. The idea is that they will cook and firm up, then the water will evaporate and they will crisp up and brown some more. Once the water has dissipated, you can flip them to brown on all sides if you wish.

Now to enjoy them. Place them on a platter, have a bowl of chopped green onions and your choice of sauces for dipping. Just plain soy sauce is good or some chili garlic sauce to add some heat. Yum!

Til next time!

The Erratic Cook

These are quite work intensive, but oh so worth the time and effort!

~ Tracy