Potstickers

Today I'm giving you one of my favorite recipes. Haha, I think I may be saying this about every recipe I post. It's still true though. My husband and I love postickers. It's especially great because I don't even have to modify it to exclude onions or garlic which make me sick. My husband calls it my ginger pork instead of potstickers. He's right, you better like ginger, or you won't like this.
I also need to preface this by saying I made this for my sister who was in the country with her husband and visited us. I happened to have lent them my good camera and my private cell, so I took these pics with a point and shoot camera I gave my husband a few years ago. The pics aren't too bad, but not awesome either.

OK, here goes:

These are the ingredients you need. (Not pictured is the cayenne I used. The recipe calls for Sichuan pepper, however there is an import block of that to the US. Something about citrus plants. However some Asian specialty stores still have some. They can sell what they have, just not import more. The cayenne works just fine for me though.)

Potstickers:
2-3T Soy Sauce
2T Sesame Oil
2 Inches Fresh Ginger
1 lbs Ground Pork
1 Eggs
1t Cayenne
Wanton Wrappers

You will see I just about tripled the recipe. It's up to you though. Also, try to buy round wanton wrappers if you can. I'm a big fan of making everything from scratch, however, I've found that using the pre-made wrappers are just as good if not better than homemade dough. Way less muss and fuss too. If you can't find round ones, you can buy square wrappers and cut off the corners, that'll make them round enough to stuff.

First grab your ginger.

Peel it and chop it into little pieces. Cut through the grain, as it's very fibrous.

Then I toss them into my cusinart. (Thanks mom!)

As you can see I may use more ginger than the recipe calls for. I love ginger though.

Ok, now blend it all up. In theory you can cut it all up by hand, but I'm lazy and love my conveniences.

That delicious fresh ginger smell. Ginger is super good for all sorts of things. It helps with nausea. I swear by ginger. It's also supposed to help increase circulation, or so I'm told. I bought honey crisp apple cider which was too sweet for my sister, so she added a pinch of ginger and a shot of lemon juice to it.


Now start adding all your other ingredients to the cuisinart.
Add your pork.

Add your cayenne.

Add your egg(s)
Add your soy sauce
Add your sesame oil

Now blend it all up until it's all the same consistency and thoroughly mixed.

Now it's time to stuff your wanton wrappers.

This is the brand they sell at my little Waremart (Winco's little baby). They are super great quality. For my batch that's 2.5 times the whole recipe I get two of these packs and end up with a little bit leftover. Which is perfect, since I made my husband fry some up for me as a midnight snack while I was working on them.

I make a little workstation for myself. I take a big cutting board to work on  into the living room and put it onto my coffee table. The stuffing is time consuming, so I like to watch tv or something like that while I work on it.

You'll also need a little bowl with lukewarm water.

Here you can see my little stuffing station. My husband stepped in to act as a photographer for this one.

I use two teaspoons for the filling. One to grab a small scoop of the filling, and the other to help it off the spoon. Be aware to not stuff them too full, or they will burst open while you're cooking them and it gets messy.

Now dip your finger into your water bowl and run it across the edge of the wanton wrapper so it's a half circle.

Now fold over the other half and smooth the edges shut. The water mixes with the flour and acts like a glue.

This takes a little bit of practice, but it really is simple. Pinch the dough and fold over into pleats.

Now just keep making more and more.

You can freeze them and cook them straight from the freezer if you want.
There are a few different ways you can cook these. You can steam them, just fry them on both sides, and I've even seen someone just plain old boil them. I'm going to show you the trickiest version, but in my opinion also the tastiest version. I still find it challenging and make my husband do it. Haha, I'll have to practice it myself too.
Heat up a cast iron frying pan with oil (preferably peanut oil as it can handle the highest temperatures).
Add your potstickers one side down into the hot oil.

Once they've browned on one side, add 2/3 of a cup of water to the pan and place the lid on it until the water has evaporated. This will steam the other side, about 5 minutes. You'll have one side crunchy crispy, and the other side pretty much soft and steamed.

Now here is your delicious treat.

Dipping Sauce Recipe:

4 mashed garlic, 

1t hot oil, 

1t rice vinegar,  

¼t sesame oil, 

3T soysauce, 

(optional hot pepper flakes)

I usually triple the dipping sauce. I also leave out the garlic, but obviously if it doesn't make you violently ill like it does me, it's a tasty addition.

As usual, here is the quicky sumary of the recipe:

Potstickers – Jiaoz

Ingredients:

2 inches ginger, peeled and sliced

1 pound ground pork shoulder

2-3 T soysauce

2 T sesame oil

Setchuan pepper, toasted in oven, mortar + 1-2- t salt

1 egg

Wanton wrappers

Mix all the ingredients in a food processor, if you don’t have one, cut everything very fine and mix.

Stuff into rounds of wanton wrapper. Dampen edges in a half moon circle, fold over wrapper, pinch shut and fold over so there’s a ruffle.

Dipping Sauce

4 mashed garlic, 1 t hot oil, 1 t rice vinegar, ¼ t sesame oil, 3 T soysauce, (optional hot pepper flakes)

How to cook:

Flat skillet on high (cast iron),

Add peanut oil to cover generously

Add potstickers for 1 minute

Add 1/3 cup warm water, put on cover/lid and cook until it evaporates (5 min)

If using frozen ones use add 2/3 cup warm water and extend cooking time by 10 min (You can freeze the stuffed potstickers

Pork Fried Rice

Fried Rice is one of my signature dishes. It's the one thing that we always eat all the leftovers of. I'm not that great at eating the leftovers most of the time, but this is the one time that I always want them!
So, shall we get started then?

Ingredients:
Rice (I prefer jasmine rice)
Pork (I use pork chops when I can)
Water Chestnuts (optional)
Eggs
Slivered Almonds (You can use whole, but I like the slivered better)
Ginger (fresh, you can also use powdered, I sometimes supplement with it, but don't substitute the fresh completely)
Soy Sauce (I prefer low sodium)
Rice Vinegar
Worchester Sauce
Toasted Sesame Seed Oil
Cayenne Pepper
Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Maggi Sauce (if you can get it, but not necessary)

Got all your stuff together? OK, lets get started!

Get your meat out and lay it all out so you can season it.

Now season the meat with the cayenne, salt, pepper,and paprika.

Also cut up some of your ginger into little bits, or grate it.

Preheat your pot or sauce pan with some peanut oil. (Peanut oil is a good choice because it can handle the highest heat.)
Now throw your meat seasoned side down into the pot and add the ginger.

Now season that side too.

Sear them on both sides, and then dump in a bunch of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame seed oil, worchester sauce, and maggi. It'll boil down somewhat and infuse everything with the flavors. Lower the heat to medium to cook your meat.

I get the meat out and cut it into bite sized cubes, before returning it to the sauce to finish cooking. This also gives it more of the flavors.

Cut them up.

Return it to your pot:

While that is cooking, I add the sliced water chestnuts so they can soak up some of that flavor. I like the crunchiness with the great flavor.

Take the rest of the ginger and grate or chop it up. I use my mini cuisinart. Ginger is a very fibrous root. So if you are going to chop it up into grated consistency, you should cut the pieces across the grain like this:

Get your wok out. Preheat it with the  peanut oil. Until it reaches almost smoking point. While it's preheating beat up your eggs like you would for scrambled eggs. Pour into the wok, break them up, and let them cook.

Remove the cooked eggs and reserve them on a plate that has paper towels on it so they can absorb the excess oil.

If the eggs have depleted the oil in your wok, add some more and ensure it has preheated. I toss in two chili peppers if I have them. Then dump in your grated ginger:

Then add your almonds and let them get golden brown.

Ok, so if I was a normal person, I would add my rice to the wok, and then add all the other ingredients, and yay. However I am not a normal person, and I doubt there is a wok made for my needs. Also I am a weak feeble girly girl, so what actually happens is that I throw everything into the biggest pot I have. Add a ton of soy sauce, more sesame oil, and a bunch of rice vinegar. Then I yell: "HOOONEEEEEEYYYYYYYYY!" And then I make him stir and stir and stir. Season to taste. 

Oh, goodness! This is indeed one of my absolute favorite foods. It's also as customizable as you want it to be. Add green onions, add different meats (I've made it with ground elk before too), add whatever sounds good to you.

I also always provide soy sauce and rice vinegar when I serve it. I tend to want more of both in my rice so I season a bit under, that way everyone can customize as they want.

Asian Pork Pot Roast

Today I made Asian pork pot roast. This may not be the most usual type of pot roast, but believe me it is quite delicious! My best friend's boyfriend, John, flips for it! But then again, that may not be the biggest endorsement, considering he likes almost everything I cook. It is way more simple than you would think.

This is my very beloved Le Creuset dutch/french oven. This one has a larger surface, but isn't as tall. The reason I got this one is because I used to make stew all the time and liked having the bigger surface to brown my beef cubes. In this case it works out perfectly too, because I am able to make two smaller pot roasts in the same pot, instead of having to use two separate pots.

So here are the ingredients you need for your Asian pot roast!

Pork Pot Roast (picnic cut, butt, etc, whatever your preference is, you could even use beef if you want)
Wine (red or white works, just don't use a desert wine) if you don't have wine in the house or don't drink alcohol you can use more rice vinegar. The acid in wine and vinegar helps break down the meat some and makes it very tender.
Soy sauce
Worcester Sauce
Sesame Oil (toasted) honestly sesame oil makes anything taste Asian.
Tabasco Sauce
Rice Vinegar
Broth Cubes (I like the vegetarian ones from Knorr, because they mix well with everything) The picture doesn't show broth because you can use the cubes to make your own broth, but I use both.
Maggi Seasoning this is something that many of you won't have as it's a very Swiss ingredient, but that's totally ok, it isn't necessary.
Olive Oil

Seasoning Ingredients Are:

 Salt
Pepper
Cayenne
Paprika
Italian Seasoning Mix I use that with almost everything.

Last but not least:

 Ginger fresh is best, but if you don't have that you can use powdered ginger too.

So, those are technically the ingredients. However because I still had leftover weedwacker bacon  I used that as my fat base.

The easiest way to deal with that bacon is to cut it up with scissors.
So first off render the bacon in the pot.

Mmmmh, bacon!

Next season your roast with the paprika, cayenne, pepper, salt, and a dash of Italian seasoning.

Make sure your bacon has rendered, and the bacon is crispy. You won't actually be eating the bacon, it's just there for the additional flavoring of the roast. It should look somewhat like this:

Dump the roast or roasts seasoning side down into the pot. Have the temperature on high, since you want to sear the roast on both sides.

Now season the roast on the other side.

Make sure the roast is seared on both sides:

Now take the roasts out and place them on a plate.

Time to deglaze that pot with some wine. If you aren't using alcohol you can use broth instead. Dump that wine into the pot.

 

Cook it down to boil off some alcohol and concentrate the flavors. I also throw in a broth cube because I love the extra flavors.

Put the roasts back into your pot.

Add the ginger. I put some on top of the roast, and some in the broth part.

Now add your liquid seasonings, Worcester sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, tabasco sauce, and Maggi.

Just dump a bunch of seasonings on top of the roast.

Then fill up the pot with broth. Today I used chicken broth because I had it left over. It doesn't really matter which kind you use. You could also use the broth cubes to make your own. This brand is my favorite. I'm a sucker for organic and local.

Now fill up the pot with broth and add some wine if desired. I always add wine. If you aren't using wine, you may want to add some extra vinegar to help break down the meat and tenderize it.

Throw the lid on it, so it'll self baste.

Now throw it into the oven at 300 degrees. Calculate about 35 minutes for every pound of meat. In this case it's about 3 and a half hours.

Gosh, I've spent so many hours trying to deep clean that darn oven, but this is as clean as it'll get.


And here is the beautiful result:

I'm serving mine with rice. :)





I hope you all enjoy this!


Here is the condensed recipe:

Asian Pork Pot Roast

Tools:
Oven
Dutch oven, or any pot that can stay in the oven with a lid at 300 degrees.

Ingredients:
Pork Pot Roast
Wine
Soy sauce
Worcester Sauce
Sesame Oil
Tabasco Sauce
Rice Vinegar
Broth Cubes
Maggi Seasoning if available
Olive Oil or Bacon
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne
Paprika
Italian Seasoning Mix
Ginger fresh is preferred, but powdered will do as well

Preheat the oven at 300 degrees.

Render the bacon in your pot, or use the olive oil.
Season the roast with your dry spices, cayenne, salt, pepper, paprika, Italian seasoning.
Sear the roast on both sides.
Remove roast.
Deglaze pot with wine or broth.
Add roast back into pot.
Add wet seasonings, soy sauce, Worcester sauce, Tabasco, vinegar, magi.
Add ginger.
Add some broth cubes.
Add extra wine.
Add broth until it covers the roast half way.
Put into preheated oven at 300 degrees. Cook circa 35 minutes for every pound of meat.