Now for something completely different……

At least it’s different than what I usually write about.  I       tend to stay away from recipes that are complicated or use too many exotic or arcane ingredients.  You may have noticed that I also tend to keep my distance from flour, rolling pins and ovens.  As a result I have avoided making many dishes I love because they sounded way too complicated for a simple old hippie like me.  I’m going to give you a couple of examples of things I long avoided because the recipes intimidated me.  Somewhere along the line I decided ‘what the hell!’ and figured out that if simple country folk in primitive kitchens could make these dishes without stainless steel Wolfe stoves or Cuisinarts or ricers and dicers and slicers, then so could I.   Take my word on this one - these are real easy to make and they are better than just good.  As a matter of fact I’ll guarantee they’ll be way, way better than what you’re used to getting in a restaurant.

The first of these recipes is a Chinese dish that seemed to suddenly appear on all Chinese restaurant menus in the late 60s -- ‘potstickers’.  I loved them and ordered them any time I saw them on a menu.  I moved to Mexico in 1990 and no more pot stickers.  There is a large Chinese-Mexican community in Baja and lots of Chinese restaurants – all Mandarin style.  No Szechuan and more importantly - no pot stickers.  I had just about resigned myself to life without pot stickers when I came across a pack of frozen wonton wrappers in the local super.  I got them home and started fooling around trying to make some pot stickers.  I didn’t have a Chinese cookbook and this was before I had access to Google so it was trial and error.  Or it would have been trial and error except I got it right on the very first try.  All I really knew about pot stickers is they were fried on the bottom and steamed on the top. Also the ones I had liked best had pork and shrimp.  Armed with this limited knowledge I whipped up the best damn pot stickers I ever had and, I might add, everyone who ate them agrees.  Here’s how I did it in 1990 and still do it today.  Please read it all the way through before you start because I almost always forget something and add it at the end.  There’s nothing worse than finding yourself in the middle of cooking something new and finding out that you need some yak butter and the moron forgot to mention it until it’s too late – and where he hell am I gonna find yak butter on Sunday night?

pot stickers………….hippie style

ingredients

ground pork……………. You don’t really want it too lean so if you are having it ground to order tell the butcher at least 20% fat.  Also each pot sticker only takes about a teaspoon of filling so you don’t need a whole lot.

Chopped shrimp……….. You want about at least half as much shrimp as pork and chop them pretty fine.  I use raw shrimp and so should you but cooked shrimp will work if that’s all you have.

Water chestnuts………..  you just need a few - chopped finely.  You can find small cans in your local super market.

Chopped chives……….. (very finely chopped)  green onions will do.

Rice vinegar……………. this is important so buy a small bottle if you don’t have any in your gourmet cupboard.

Soy sauce………………. I think we just want regular soy sauce not an exotic like tamari or any of that ‘lite’ stuff

Chopped ginger………..  This is also a real important part of my recipe.  I started out using fresh ginger root but soon switched to that pink pickled ginger they have in sushi bars. The fresh ginger is often very fibrous and difficult to chop.

Chopped garlic…………. Just a clove or two. Or you could leave it out – it’s not all that important.

preparing the filling

When I first made them I was edgy about the raw pork cooking in the wrapper so I cooked the filling.  I have found out that that is not necessary but I still do it that way because I think the filling tastes a lot better when the pork has been slightly browned.  So throw the pork into a hot frying pan with just a tiny bit of oil because the pork should be fatty enough to make its own grease. Stir it around to break up any clumps - cooking until it is slightly browned.  Then toss in the chopped shrimp, garlic and water chestnuts - give it a quick stir or two and pour in some rice vinegar and soy sauce.  I didn’t give an amount on the vinegar or soy because I’ve never measured – but I do taste as I go along and you should do the same.  Add a little vinegar and soy then taste and adjust, but remember you can add more but you can’t get it out once it’s added.  Turn it off, put it in a bowl and let it cool.  Don’t worry if the shrimp aren’t completely cooked they will finish up in the next step.  When it’s cooled down, toss in the chopped chives and ginger.  I do this after it’s cooked because I want little bursts of flavor but I don’t want a ginger or onion flavored filling.

assembling the pot stickers

Ooops , I forgot - you will need some plain white flour or corn starch.  The wonton wrappers are pretty fragile and tend to stick to whatever surface you set them on so sprinkle some flour or corn starch on a plate or board or whatever surface you’re using.  Set a wonton wrapper on the floured surface – this is important because as the wrappers get warm they get real sticky and fragile and will stick to an un-floured surface and break apart when you try to lift them.  Place about a teaspoon full of the filling on the middle of the wrapper. Now you can close it up.   Wet the edge of the wrapper all around the filling (I have a bowl of warm water at hand and just dip my finger in the water and run my wet finger around the wrapper). Pick up two opposite corners and press the wet rims together, then do the same with the two remaining corners.  You should have a little tent shaped wonton with a bunch of gaps where the edges haven’t been sealed. Press those still wet edges together to seal the gaps.  They will now look like little draw-string money bags.  Most restaurant pot stickers are turnover shaped, but that takes round wrappers which means making your own wrappers which involves rolling pins and eggs and flour and all that stuff that I don’t like.   If you’re gonna insist on turnover shaped guys you still put about a teaspoon of filling  in the round wrapper then wet the edge and fold one half over making a half circle shape.  Seal the wet edges by pressing down with a fork – makes a nice scalloped edge.  Another way to fold them – also attractive – is to place the filling a little closer to one corner then fold over the opposite corner and seal the edges to get a triangular shape, then wet the pointy corners and fold up the two opposite corners – pinch them together to form a little bridge then bring up the third wet corner and join it to the other two. Experiment with the first few until you find the fold that you like best.   While I’m making these guys I keep the stack of waiting wrappers covered with a damp cloth to keep them from drying out – you should do the same.  As you are making the wontons do make sure you leave some space between the finished pot stickers because if they touch they will stick together and break when you pick them up.  Whoa………… now we gotta cook them and here’s how:

But first I want to tell you that there are some really good reasons for trying this recipe. First - they are really, really  good.  Second – they are way easier to make than my newsletter makes it sound.  Third – you will be the only person you know who makes home-made potstickers and all your friends will be really impressed.  When I decided to write about potstickers I started asking friends and customers about them. Not one person I asked had ever had homemade potstickers. So it would be a very cool - and oh so hip - thing to make.

The first time I made them I had a tough time figuring out how to steam something on the top and fry it on the bottom.  So I steamed them first and then fried them.  They were really good but the steamed ones are very fragile and I broke a lot of them in the process. I eventually figured out a pretty bulletproof way to do it.  I do them in a heavy cast iron skillet but you can use any kind of frying pan you like.  Even though they are called pot ‘stickers’ you don’t really want them to stick very much because you will break a lot of them.  So try to use a nonstick pan or well seasoned cast pan.  Also you need a pan that you can put a lid on.  Get the pan pretty hot over medium heat and add a generous coating (we are not deep frying these suckers so add just enough oil to make sure that each dumpling is sitting in it) of oil.  I do not recommend olive oil for these.  I use whatever kind of neutral tasting oil I have on hand – corn, safflower, whatever.  Put the potstickers in the oil leaving a little room around each – if they touch each other they will stick.  Over medium high heat, let them cook without poking or prodding – until they are very browned, almost burnt. Should only take a couple of minutes then turn the heat down and, when the oil has cooled a bit, break them loose with a spatula and slowly pour in water to a depth of no more than about a quarter inch – approximately the diameter of a pencil.  A word of caution:  make sure the oil has cooled considerably because pouring water into sizzling hot oil is asking for trouble.  Once the water is in, bring it to a slow simmer and put the lid on. Then steam them with the lid on for a couple of minutes – until the tops are soft like cooked pasta – then leave the lid off and let the water steam away or if there’s a whole lot of water just pour it off.  They’re probably ready although when the water is gone I often add a little more oil and fry them a second time.  Bingo!! You’ve just made the best damn potstickers in the world.  I’ve tried them with every possible salsa including some store bought Chinese plum sauce and Oyster sauce and they were all good but I think that the very best way to serve these puppies is to simply pour a little puddle of rice vinegar on a plate and set the potstickers in the puddle.  I always have some Chinese hot oil to sprinkle on.  Almost all supers are now selling little Tabasco sized bottles of hot oil in the section that has the Asian foods – canned Chun King  etc.  When I got to Mexico I could no longer find hot oil in the stores so I started making my own.  It turned out to be the easiest salsa I ever made and it tastes way better than store bought and it lasts for almost ever.  If you want to make your own (highly recommended) I have a great recipe on my web site –www.felixcabosanlucas.com  - just go to recipes and click on smoky hot oil. I really want you guy to try this one and let me know how it turns out.  I had so much fun fooling around with these store bought won ton wrappers that I’ve used them to make a whole bunch of great things that you seldom find in the home kitchen.  In the next newsletter I’ll show you how to make some world class fried won tons, worwonton soup, spring rolls (used to be called egg rolls) and best of all – some great homemade raviolis.  Stay tuned.

Spencer