Potstickers

I've been wanting to make these for a while now. After looking through each and every issue of Cook's Illustrated that we own (to make some room on the bookshelf) I fell upon this recipe and decided it must be made! Yes, time consuming but well worth it. I made them two Sunday's ago and froze them so we could have them on a work night. I try to make at least two meals each weekend so we don't have to worry about preparing an entire meal after working all day. As you can see from my picture I could only find square wrappers so our potstickers were triangular rather then the traditional dumpling but just as good. Oh and I chose chicken instead of pork since I don't each pork. To grind your own chicken, use your food processor and pulse quickly. Don't over pulse or your chicken will turn to mush. Delicious and easy if you take the time to prep them beforehand. Enjoy!

Potstickers

3 C minced napa cabbage leaves

1/2 t salt

2 chicken breasts, ground

6 T minced scallions

pinch of ground black pepper

5 T soy sauce

1 1/2 t grated ginger

2 garlic clove, minced

2 egg whites

24 round gyoza wrappers or square wonton wrappers

4 t vegetable oil

Scallion Dipping Sauce

1/4 C soy sauce

2 T rice vinegar

2 T mirin

2 T water

1 t suracha sauce

1/2 t sesame oil

1-2 scallions, minced

Combine all dipping sauce ingredients and set aside.

Combine all filling ingredients in a boll and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until mixture is cold, at least 45 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Place 4 wrappers on work surface. Place one slightly rounded tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper. Using your fingertip, moisten edge of wrapper with water. Fold each in half and pinch edges together firmly to seal. Making sure the press out any air pockets. Repeat with remaining wrappers. Filled dumplings can be refrigerated over night or frozen.

To freeze place dumpling in a single layer and not touching on a baking sheet. Once completely frozen transfer to a plastic bag and place back in freezer. Do not thaw before cooking. They will defrost and cook during the remaining process.

Add 2 teaspoons oil to a nonstick skillet and heat to medium high. Arrange dumplings in skillet, lying flat on one side and just slightly overlapping if necessary. Cook without moving until dumplings are golden brown on the bottoms, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add 1/2 cup of water and cover. Cook until most of the water is absorbed and dumplings are slightly translucent. Uncover, increase heat to medium high, cook without stirring until bottoms are browned and crisp. Transfer to paper towel lined plate and repeat process with remaining dumplings. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

Source: Cook's Illustrated March & April 2006

Shrimp Fried Rice

I have to be honest here. Up until now I haven't found a fried rice recipe that compares to good old Chinese take out... until now. This one definitely takes first place. It was very easy and came together quick. It can serve an army but great for lunches over the next few days. I made two cups of uncooked rice which makes something like 6+ cups of cooked rice. I found some great tips from Simple Recipes about not touching the food so much as it cooks in the wok. I tried my best to follow this rule and the final outcome was delicious little browned rice bits that remind me of, yes, the fried rice at our favorite little Chinese restaurant in town. Take a look at this recipe to follow her step by step guide to cooking fried rice. I think you can add what ever vegetables you want. I didn't have peas in the freezer and subbed edamame and added mushrooms and napa cabbage because I had some left over from making pot stickers over the weekend. I had scallions but forgot to add them so maybe add them to your ingredient list.

Shrimp Fried Rice

10-12 raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/2 t kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 t cornstarch
2 T canola, divided
3 eggs, beaten
6 C leftover rice, grains separated well

2 carrots, diced

1 C shelled edamame

5 mushrooms, chopped

1/2 a small napa cabbage, chopped

1 t fresh ginger, small diced

2 T soy sauce

1 1/2 t sesame oil

1 T butter

Toss the shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let sit for at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

Heat a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat pan. Add the shrimp, quickly spreading out around the cooking surface area so that they are not overlapping. Let fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until just cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible. Turn the heat to medium, let the pan heat up again. Add the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the pan into the same plate as the cooked shrimp.

Use paper towels to wipe the same wok or sauté pan clean and return to high heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add the mushrooms and carrots fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the ginger, edamame and cabbage and cook for 30 seconds. Add in the butter and rice and stir well to mix in with the vegetables. Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched until you hear the bottoms of the grains sizzle, about 1-2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok.5 Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. Add the the cooked eggs, shrimp and sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients.

Let everything heat back up again, until the rice grains are so hot they practically dance! Taste and add an additional 1 teaspoon of soy sauce if needed.

Sweet & Sour Shrimp

This is Dave's go to Chinese take-out meal. He always orders this and I always get Sesame Chicken but have been trying Lo Mein more often. Our favorite little Chinese Restaurant is Henry's China Gourmet. I have a hard time ordering Sesame Chicken for other places because I really like his. Its not too "fried" and the chicken is always white meat. Sometimes you get nasty brown chewy chicken and its just gross. It has a nice spice and a great sauce. Hmm, somehow I have gone off on a tangent on a different recipe here. Back to the Sweet and Sour Shrimp! I've been wanting to make this at home for a long time. Since the Shrimp is typically fried this has never happened. I finally found a few recipes that didn't involve deep frying anything. Much healthier on our hearts and I just don't like to fry in our house. I really worry about a grease fire. This dish is comparable but just on a different level. We really enjoyed it and will be making it again to satisfy our take-out urge! Our camera was out of batteries when I made this and I really wanted to get a picture of the beautiful orangish sauce. It really would have been a lovely picture. Oh well, when we make it again I'll post a picture.

Sweet & Sour Shrimp

1.5 C rice
3 C water
3 T cornstarch, divided
10-14 peeled shrimp
1/4 C fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/4 C low-sodium soy sauce
2 T brown sugar
3 T white vinegar
1 T chile paste
1 T ketchup
2 t sesame oil
2 t canola oil
1 C onion, large dice
1/2 C red bell pepper, chopped
1 T ground fresh ginger
1/2 C pineapple chunks

Cook rice according to package directions. Combine 2 tablespoon cornstarch, and shrimp in a bowl and stir to coat. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch, broth, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, chile paste and ketchup and whisk to dissolve sugar and cornstarch. Heat sesame oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Remove shrimp to a bowl. Heat canola oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, ginger, and pineapple to pan; sauté 5 minutes. Add shrimp cook 1 minute. Add broth mixture to pan; cook 2 minutes. Serve over rice.

inspired by this Cooking Light recipe

Sesame Chicken

I LOVE getting Chinese take-out! We very rarely get it but I still love it! I always get Sesame Chicken and Dave always gets Sweet & Sour Shrimp. I have found recipes for both of these dishes and feel that they replace our take-out cravings. They are equally as good but a lightened up version of the real thing. Try my Sweet & Sour Shrimp and recreate our favorite Chinese take-out at home!

Sesame Chicken
1 C flour
1/4 C toasted sesame seeds
1 t black pepper
1 t Chinese Five Spice powder
1/2 t cayenne pepper
2 Chicken breasts
8 T Soy Vay Very Very Teriyaki sauce
6 T Honey
8 T Chinese Five Spice Powder
2 T Vegetable oil
1.5 C Rice (I used jasmine this time)
2 C sugar snaps

Slice chicken in to bite size pieces. Combine flour, five spice powder, pepper, cayenne and half of the sesame seeds in plastic bag with the chicken. Toss to combine. Heat wok on high add oil and heat until just smoking. Remove chicken from flour and carefully add to wok. Brown chicken for about five minutes. Remove from wok and lower heat. Add teriyaki, honey and remaining sesame seeds to wok and simmer for 1 minute. Add sugar snaps and chicken and heat through. Serve over cooked rice.

Vegetable Lo Mein Stir Fry

We have this fabulous heavy wok and I love using it. This vegetable noodle stir fry was perfect. With stir fry there typically isn't a recipe I follow. I think this is a good go to dish that can be created out of ingredients on hand. It just takes a bit of chopping. I like to prep everything prior to heating up the wok. After the preparation this is a quick cooking meal due to the high heat used.

Vegetable Lo Mien

1 box lo mien or Thai rice noodles

1/4 C soy sauce

1/2 C broth (chicken or vegetable)

1 t vegetable oil

1 t sesame oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 C snow peas

4-6 mushrooms, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 large thump fresh ginger, minced or grated

2 carrots, sliced

1 small jalapeno, minced or a pinch of red pepper flakes

1 T corn starch

1 egg, beaten

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse, set aside. Whisk broth and corn starch, set aside. Chop all vegetables, beat egg, measure out soy sauce. Heat wok over high heat for at least 8 minutes. Add vegetable oil and sesame oil to hot wok. Add vegetable is order leaving a few minutes between each batch- onion, carrots, bell pepper, snow peas, mushrooms. Vegetables should be tender-crisp. Add jalapeno, garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Make a well in the middle of the vegetables and add beaten egg. Cook until just scrambled. Add soy sauce and mix. Add noodles and toss to combine. Finish with the broth mixture. Toss well to coat everything.

Fried Rice Makeover

We made this with the leftover sushi rice from Friday. I definetely think this was the best one we've made. In the past it has alwasy seemed to tast like a stir-fry rather then the good old fried rice. I obviously think this dish is way healthier then takeout. I don't even want to think about what really goes into the real dish. A moment on the lips, forever on the hips!

Chicken Fried Rice

3 C cold cooked rice
1 T vegetable oil
2 chicken breasts diced
1/4 t Chinese five spice
3-4 T soy sauce
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t celery salt
1 t vegetable oil
1 small onion diced
1 C frozen peas
1-2 carrots diced
1 C sugar snap peas
4 T soy sauce
2 eggs beaten


Heat oil in wok on medium high. Add chicken cook 2 minutes then add soy sauce, garlic powder, celery salt and five spice powder. Cook chicken until done and remove to bowl with sauce. Add egg and scramble, remove. Add remaining oil and cook vegetables for 5 minutes. Add cold rice and toss to combine. Turn down heat to low and add remaining soy sauce, eggs and chicken. Cover wok and cook until rice is heated through.