Steamed Pot Stickers

I. Love. Christmas....the lights, the music, the great food, and of course spending time with family and friends.  The last few years, we have spent Christmas Eve with my hubby's family who live nearby, and we have Christmas Day all to ourselves!!  It may sound strange, but at this stage in our lives, it is really exciting and fun to have this day to ourselves.  We look forward to some peace and quiet, opening gifts from each other, listening to some Christmas music, and making the BEST MEAL EVER!!!!!  

This year, we started planning our meal a few days before Christmas, and we settled on some Pork and Turkey Dumplings / Pot Stickers for lunch, and Filet Mignon for dinner.  The pot stickers are an all time favorite of ours, but they are quite time consuming.  But if you have ever had dumplings before, you know they are absolutely delicious, and completely worth the effort of making them from scratch.  Just make sure you have a couple of hours to spare, and someone to help you!!! It makes everything better :)

By the way, we ate so many of these amazing little packages of goodness for lunch, we did not eat dinner until after 9:00pm, and even then, we were still stuffed!  MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Printable Recipe HERE

HOT WATER DOUGH:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups boiling water

PORK AND GINGER FILLING:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons minced ginger root
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 small yellow onion, minced
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 pound ground meat (we used half pork and half turkey)
2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 to 2 cups chicken stock or water 

SPICY SOY DIPPING SAUCE:
1/3 cup thin soy sauce
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sambal
1 teaspoon spicy Chinese mustard


In a stainless steel bowl mix flour and salt. Slowly add hot water to flour in 1/4 cup increments. Mix with chopsticks or a fork until a ball is formed and the dough is not too hot to handle. On a floured surface, knead dough until it becomes a smooth, elastic ball. Place back in bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rest for at least 1 hour. 

MAKING THE FILLING:
In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add the ginger, garlic, and onion and saute for about 5 minutes.  Add the salt, and stir to combine. 

Remove from the heat.  Add the ground meat and soy sauce and stir to combine.  Add the oyster sauce and hoisin sauce and stir to combine.  Set aside until ready to make the dumplings.

MAKING THE DUMPLINGS: 
Working on a floured surface with floured hands, roll out dough to form a long 'noodle', 1-inch in diameter. Cut 1/2-inch pieces and turn them over so the cut sides are facing up. Flatten with your palm and roll out thin using a rolling pin. The dumpling wrapper should end up about 3 inches in diameter.

Place a small mound of filling in the middle of the wrapper. (Be very careful not to touch the edges with the filling or they won't seal well.) Fold the wrapper in half to form a half moon shape. Starting on one end fold/pinch the wrapper tightly together. Proceed with this fold/pinch method until the dumpling is completely sealed. There will be approximately 10 to 14 folds per dumpling. Rest the dumplings with the folded edges straight up.

COOKING THE DUMPLINGS: In a hot saute pan coated well with oil, place pot stickers flat side down and cook until the bottom is browned. Have pan cover ready and add 1 cup of chicken stock, cover immediately. The stock will steam the pot stickers. Check them in 5 minutes as more stock may be needed. The trick here is that once the dumplings are firm and fully cooked the stock will evaporate and the bottoms will crisp-up again. 

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl for the spicy soy dipping sauce.

Serve the pot stickers with the spicy dipping sauce and some sriracha on the side (if desired, for more heat!).   Top with chopped scallions.