Eggplant, Ham and Pimento Ravioli Potstickers

This is my latest and very unusual creation that came from my desire to experiment. Yah, right!  Actually, I had no idea what to cook for dinner so I raided the freezer and pulled out bag of grilled eggplants, grilled red peppers in olive oil and container with grilled red pepper and sundried tomato sauce. In refrigerator, I had shallots, garlic, ham and wonton wrappers and I came up with sort of Chinese – Italian fusion recipe. I chopped the eggplants and peppers while they were still frozen, than I chopped the shallots, garlic and ham and sautéed them until soft. I added eggplants, peppers and 1/2 cup of white wine and I cooked it untill there was no liquid left, let it cool before mixing in quite a bit of grated Parmigiano Regiano cheese. Of course the mix was seasoned with salt and pepper along the way. The dumplings had a shape like ravioli but I cooked them like potstickers. Served on top of sundried tomatoes and pimento sauce, they were so delicious! I have especially liked the mix of textures in wonton wrappers that run from soft to chewy to crispy crunch, just perfect. Next time, and it will be soon, I will serve the sauce on side, just like Chinese potstickers, because the crispy bottom of ravioli that touched the sauce got soft. They were still great but soft.

Chinese New Year of a Dragon is Coming!

Next week on January 23^rd Chinese everywhere will celebrate arrival of new year with incredible banquets and I will join in the fun but at home. We are long way from closest Chinatown, unfortunately. I made lot of potstickers and on the New Year’s day I will prepare something special.

 Ready for the freezer.

Pork Pot Stickers

The pot stickers are another dim-sum favorite snack and uses basically same ground pork mixture as Shu-Mei steamed dumplings and steamed Pearl Balls. It is very tedious to make so typical Chinese family do not make them at home, but I have no choice, there are no dim-sum restaurants in our town. I don’t mind even though as a full meal it takes me about half an hour to make them, another 15 minutes to cook them and then just few minutes to eat them all. C’est la vie.

Ingredients

3/4 pound pork butt or equivalent ground pork
1/2 Tbs. fresh ginger, minced

1/2 cup finely chopped Napa or Savoy cabbage leaves

2 tsp. chopped garlic
1 tablespoons water chestnut, finely chopped

3 green onions, minced

2 shitake mushrooms, soaked and chopped fine
1 Tbs. Sake or rice wine
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tbs. cornstarch

Won-ton wrappers

Bowl with water for sealing the dumplings

Directions

Mix all the ingredients except the wrappers, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to blend the flavours.

1.     Spoon 1 heaping teaspoon of the filling onto a dumpling wrapper. Don’t be tempted to overfill! Dip your finger into the water and “paint” all around the edges of the dumpling skin.

2.     In the middle, pinch the top and bottom together, tightly.

3.     Starting just left of the middle, use your left hand to bring the TOP portion of wrapper to pleat towards the middle. Pinch to secure that pleat. Move down just a bit, and do the pleating again. Repeat once more. You will have 3 pleats on each side, all pleats pointing towards the middle.

4.     Now, it’s time to do the right side. Do the same using only the top portion of wrapper. Pleat towards the middle, or to the left. Repeat 2 more times.

5.     Finish by pinching the pleat all around one more time with your thumb and lower portion of your finger. Remember, any unsealed section will cause the potsticker to leak filling!

 
To cook the potstickers, pour about 2 tablespoons of oil into a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When hot but not smoking, carefully place the dumplings in frying pan, flat side down, not touching each other. Do not crowd too much or they will not brown. Fry the dumplings in batches for 4 to 5 minutes, until the bottoms are nicely browned.

Add 1/4 cup (65 ml) of water and immediately cover to start the steaming process. Steam for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the lid and let the rest of the water boil off and re-crisp the bottoms, about 1 minute. Cut open one of the dumplings and make sure the inside meat is cooked. Before starting your next batch, wipe the frying pan clean before adding more cooking oil. Adjust amount of water and steam time for the next batch as needed.

Check this website for clear illustration on folding the potstickers

Ready for cooking. Little bit too crowded for comfort but we were hungry!