GF Potstickers Rock My World!

I made Gluten Free potstickers!!!  And they are awesome!!!  Sorry for the exclamation point overload but damn, these were absolutely perfect.  I have really missed potstickers, and I must admit that since this is my first foray into any kind of gluten free pasta dough, I am a little amazed that they worked so well.  They were actually worth the three hours of work it took me to make them.  (Well, more like two hours, because I also made GF cherry walnut scones first, which were really good and which I will talk about later.) (and I also was making inarisushi, which we will also discuss below, and if I hadn't been waiting for that rice, well, these could have come together in like an hour).   Anyway, these potstickers - they rock my world.  We had them for dinner last night, and I was so happy all I could do was say "mmmm"  for a while and then high five the Budgie, and then shove another into my mouth, and then a little woohoo, and then I just kept saying "I'm SO happy right now!"

The dough is Kate's recipe from Gluten Free Gobsmacked, and I am here to tell you, go make this dough!  It's soft, and stretchable and pliable and it is SO not like anything gluten free.  It was easy to roll out very thin, and didn't even try to fall apart when I was filling the potstickers.  It tastes fabulous, and I really think you wouldn't know it was gluten free.   I followed her recipe with one exception:  I used 1/4 tsp of agar granules in place of the 1 tsp of gelatin called for in her recipe.  I made mine in Mildred the Kitchenaid, and only needed about 1 TBSP of the extra 1/2 cup of water to bring the dough together.  (Go read the recipe and this will make sense.) 

For the filling, I used the following recipe, adapted from the Rebar Cookbook:

5 large dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated with boiling water, drained and chopped.
1/2 brick of extra firm tofu, drained, pressed, and crumbled
3 cloves garlic, minced

1 TB fresh grated ginger
1 TB sesame oil
1 TB vegetable oil
4 green onions, minced
salt & pepper to taste
4 TB gf soy sauce
1/4 tsp chinese five spice powder
1 egg
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4  cup cilantro, chopped

 To make the filling, heat 1 TB of each of the oils together in a nonstick pan.  Saute the ginger, garlic, and green onions till the garlic begins to lightly brown.  Add the tofu and mushrooms, season with salt, pepper, and 5 spice powder, and cook until the tofu is nicely browned.  Stir often.  Add another TB of soy sauce if you want more flavor.  I did.  Let this mixture cool.  Stir in the cilantro.  Whisk together the egg and cornstarch with 2 TB of soy sauce.  Mix about half of this mixture into your filling until it starts to hold together a bit.  This will make it easier to fill your potsticker, and I think added body to the filling.  It will all cook when you boil your potstickers, if you're concerned about that egg.

I boiled my potstickers for about 8 minutes, removed them from the water with a slotted spoon, and put them directly into a pan heated with a tiny bit of olive oil.  They took about 5 minutes on each side to brown. 

While they're browining, make a sauce:

1/4 cup gf soy sauce
2 tb rice vinegar
1/2 tsp ginger paste (I like to use the jarred ginger paste for this)
1/4 tsp garlic paste (also jarred, it dissolves fast into sauces like this)
1 green onion minced
a splash of sesame oil (optional)
a drop of agave nectar (also optional)

We served these with some little inarizushi that I was very excited about making.  I learned a while ago from Sea at Book of Yum that I could get aburage (fried tofu sheets) frozen from the asian market, without any seasoning on them.  I was really excited about this, as I used to love these, but thought I could only get them canned, which are already seasoned with soy sauce.  So, I made some seasoned sushi rice, and set about to cook my aburage.  I followed the directions at Maki's site on making them from scratch, using her recipe for Japanese flavor essence, which I must say is spot on. I sprinkled some with a bit of furikake but left the others plain for the Budgie.  Sadly, these were not a hit with me.  The flavor of the oil used to fry the aburage just really didn't appeal to me.  However, the rest of the recipe was great, so I will be on the lookout for another brand of frozen aburage to make these again. 

I had a bit of potsticker dough left over, so I'm going to see if it holds up well packaged in the fridge until tomorrow when I may make ravioli with it.  I'm so happy with these that I have already been perusing Kate's site looking for other recipes to try.  She definitely knows her stuff!

 

Comments

[Tim Who?]

Sounds wonderful. Pot stickers are one of the foods that I enjoy and cam still eat though I'm no longer allowed to fry them. A little too crispy if I do. But I still like them boiled then either dipped in sauce or dropped in an asian soup. Pot stickers rock!

[Seamaiden]

How awesome does this look. I really need to try her recipe- I've been looking at it for a while. :)

-Sea

[Seamaiden]

BTW I just noticed- did you happen to see the aburage in the refrigerator section? I always buy mine there, and they are pretty tasty IF you soak them in hot water to get some of the oil out first. I haven't tried frozen, actually.... Which reminds me, I have a packet in my refrigerator. I might have to make some!

-Sea

[jill]

Oh, yum, yours look delicious! I wanted to make mine vegan (I like to have vegan options for when I have vegan friends over for dinner) so I didn't want to use gelatin, but, while I have never used agar, I will keep it in mind to try out Kates recipe!! And, mushrooms sound like a great addition, the tofu was a bit plain.