Unfortunately, I don't have pictures this time around (partially because this blog hadn't been created yet, partially because of the embarrassingly large pile of dishes in my kitchen). I will attempt to take pictures in the future.
Tonight I was at a bit of a loss for what to make for dinner. We had some leftover beef steak in the fridge from stir fry the other day and I knew I should use it for something. We're also a little strapped for cash, though, so I had to figure out what to do with what I have on hand. My husband mentioned the pot stickers I'd made a while back. I'm certain he did this just to make me happy. Nothing beats pot stickers in my opinion, but he doesn't tend to be a fan of any Asian recipe.
But I couldn't come up with a better idea, so I pulled the wonton wrappers out of the fridge and set to work. What I ended up with (since we didn't have any of the veggies or sauces I would normally use in these) wasn't very Asian. I liked them, and I wouldn't mind eating them again, but real pot stickers are so much better.
However, my husband absolutely loved them. He probably ate about 20 of them, said they were much better than the last ones I made (which were more traditional), asked if I could make them more often and even agreed to getting me a larger pan so I could cook bigger batches (my current pan only fits about 10 at a time). My son and my (very picky) niece also loved them, though they pretty much just ate the filling and left the wrappers, in typical almost-two-year-old fashion.
So here we go - please note that there are really no set quantities for any of this. I just tossed whatever I found into a bowl for the filling. I'm guessing how much I put in as I'm writing this.
- 1 cup Leftover (cooked) beef, cut into little pieces
- 1 cup Veggies (fresh, canned or frozen - thaw if frozen), cut as needed
- 2 tsp Soya sauce
- 2 Tbsp Peanut satay sauce
- Wonton Wrappers
- Vegetable oil
- 1 cup Beef broth
- Mix the beef, veggies, soya sauce and peanut satay sauce in a bowl.
- Put a small amount of the mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrapper a bit and fold it in half to form a triangle. Squeeze out the air and press the edges together to seal.
- Continue making dumplings this way until you run out of filling, laying them out somewhere (I used a baking sheet) so they aren't touching. Otherwise they might start sticking together.
- Now you need a frying pan without a non-stick coating. This won't work properly in a non-stick pan. Add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat it over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the pot-stickers (as many as you can fit in the pan), making sure they're not overlapping too much.
- Cook them for 2 minutes, resisting the urge to flip or un-stick them from the pan. Then turn your burner down to low, add about 1/4 of a cup of broth and cover the pan. Leave it to steam for 2 minutes.
- Now you can remove your pot stickers from the pan (don't worry, they come off fairly easily with a spatula after steaming) and eat them... or if you're like me (small pan, lots of pot stickers), put them in a bowl and keep cooking. Luckily it doesn't take long, they'll still be warm when you get them to the table.
I served them with plum sauce, but my husband and I agreed that they were better without it.
