Amateur Veggie Potstickers
nearly failing while filling & cooking dumplings for the first time
One Saturday afternoon I was bored out of my mind. After eating an average lunch and going for a neighborhood walk, I was feeling blah at home. I would walk towards the garage or the office room or the bedroom or the backyard hoping to see something that would occupy my mind and hands. But nothing of the sort presented itself.
Eventually I wandered over to the kitchen and started opening and closing the pantry and the fridge door, a ritual I am confident happens in every household multiple times each day. I saw some vegetables that should probably be used soon, part of me feeling guilty for continuing to ignore them. But then I saw a packet of wonton wrappers and the idea of making some kind of dumpling took root in my brain.
Vegetable Filling
I chopped napa cabbage in a food processor, julienned the carrots, thawed some woodear mushrooms (I had sautéed and frozen a few months ago), and cut up whites and greens of onions separately. I sautéed the veggies in a bit of olive oil and let cool in a bowl. I felt something else was needed and recalled sometimes there’s rice noodles in dumplings. I found some vermicelli noodles in my pantry and softened them (hot water soak for 3 mins). I flavored this with some vegan oyster sauce, soy sauce, and green parts of the onion. The noodles seemed quite big for making dumplings so I used scissors to cut them into smaller pieces.
Amateur Assembly
I grabbed some water in a bowl and started assembling the dumplings. I quickly realized how challenging this was! I could not get a shape right. I experimented in different ways (designs at the end, egg roll shape, etc.) but only the direct closing and not messing with it seemed to hold well. I also tested cooking them. I first boiled them. The dumplings opened at the seems creating a vegetable-vomit-filled steaming water. Yuck. This was quite upsetting, I dumped the boiled mess into the sink and stormed out of the kitchen, without capturing a photo.
Once I had calmed down, I realized I did not want to waste the filling. I tested a small batch with pan frying and that seemed to work ok. So my dumpling project turned into making potstickers.
The second round of assembly went much better than the first. I was still a bit messy but overall I could consistently fill the dumplings.
Potsticker Cooking
After learning a frustrating lesson (i.e. I don’t yet have the skills to prepare tightly closed dumplings that don’t fall apart in boiling water), I pan fried the dumplings in two batches. This resulted in quite beautiful and tasty potstickers. The flavors of the vegetable filling was quite delicious. I enjoyed some immediately with chili sauce mixed in with some soy sauce. Have you successfully made dumplings?
The potstickers tasted even better as a snack on a long drive the next day.
Dish Debrief
Is this my winner or disaster? kind of leaning towards a win
How would I rate this dish out of 10? 6/10
What would I change next time? learn how to assemble properly
Would I make this again? maybe
Ok I love potstickers but am so intimidated by making them. Thanks for explaining it all so well!
Cornstarch paste might have held the edges together better. Also, if they were refrigerated first the wrap might have cooked closed together. I'm guessing though and you're a much better cook.