Handmade Savory & Flavorful Vegetable Potstickers

I love fresh homemade dumplings, especially when made with thick dough rather than super thin pre-made wrappers. Thankfully, potstickers are one of those things that seem difficult or complicated, but are actually easier than they look.

The dough is simply flour (1 cup) and warm water (3/4) cup, mixed together, allowed to rest, then kneaded for a minute with more flour. Break off thumb sized pieces of dough and use a rolling pin to roll it into a rough circle, one for each potsticker.

I usually make dumplings with ground chicken thighs, but I wanted to use my local vegetables to make a vegetarian dumpling. You could use any mushroom, any leafy green, and any allium (garlic, shallot, onion) to make these. These were very flavorful, and I did not miss the chicken at all.

In a Cuisinart, I roughly chopped a hand-full of Shiitake mushrooms with two shallots and a knob of ginger. The, cooked the mushroom-shallot-ginger mixture with a scant tablespoon of oil, over medium heat for 5 minutes. Using the same Cuisinart bowl, I pulsed a large handful of kale raab (leafy greens with little broccoli type buds) a few times and added it to the cooking mushrooms. Continue cooking for 5 minutes.

Again in the Cuisinart, I chopped a hand-full of cilantro, a tablespoon of sesame oil and a tablespoon of soy sauce. Remove the vegetables from the heat, stir in the cilantro mixture. Allow to cool. This is your filling.

I made a simple dough, as outlined above, rolling out each circle, adding a dollop of filling and folding into a half-moon shape.

To cook, heat a couple of teaspoons of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the dumplings, standing them up around the pan. After the bottoms begin to turn a golden color, add enough water to come up the sides of the dumpling part way (maybe a cup), cover and allow to steam until the water has evaporated.

Here is a very easy to follow tutorial, including video, from Hsiao-Ching Chou on the Chinese Soul Food website.

I didn't say that they were pretty - only delicious and full of flavor.
I served them for dinner with a bit of steamed fish and ruby chard.

SOLE Notes: Thanks to Spud.com for the organic shallots (WA), organic mushrooms (BC), organic kale raab (OR), organic cilantro (CA) and organic ginger (not even remotely local).