Meatless Meat-filled Pot Stickers (Vegan)

Keeping with the Asian cuisine theme of the last post, this week I delved into the land of Pot Stickers! This recipe is a healthy meat alternative for those who just love Pot Stickers and the flavor and texture of ground meat, just without the actual meat (you wouldn't know the difference if you didn't know there was no actual meat). I will walk you through making your own dough, the filling, forming the pot stickers and cooking them up; along with a homemade Asian inspired dipping sauce.

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup water (tepid to warm)
3/4 cup baby bok choy (blanched and chopped)
3/4 cup Asian cabbage (blanched and chopped)
1/2 cup organic carrots (diced)
1/2 cup organic green onions (diced)
4 medium toes organic garlic (diced or pressed)
1 Tbs organic fresh ginger (peeled and diced fine)
3/4 bag Boca Meatless Crumbles (the 12oz frozen bag)
2 Tbs white rice vinegar
1/2 tsp organic agave
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Tools
1 medium wok or sauce pan with lid
1 medium stock pot (for blanching)
1 med bowl with ice water (for blanching)
1 mixing bowl
measuring cup and measuring spoons
Chef's knife
cutting board
Garlic Press
parchment paper
rolling pen
Pot Stickers Mold Shaper

The Pot Sticker Dough
The first step is to make your dough so you can set it aside to relax while you make your filling.  In your mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of tepid water and mix by hand.  You are welcome to use a mixer with a dough hook, but I prefer the hand mixing method.  You want a tepid to warm temperature water and you can add a bit of water at a time while mixing.  I keep a small cup of flour and some extra water on hand before I begin, adding a small amount of either to adjust the consistency if necessary.  You are looking for a well mixed dough that you knead for 10 to 15 minutes.  Then cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 20 minutes.  Just before I roll out my pot sticker dough, I knead for another 5 to 10 minutes as I found that after the dough has rested and then is kneaded again, you get a stronger, more flexible finished product.

The Filling
Like with any other wok cooking, you want to prepare all of your vegetables ahead of time, so when it is time to cook, you are not faced with needing stop and chop.  Remember that wok cooking is done on high heats with a lot of motion in a small amount of time.

I begin by washing my baby bok choy and asian cabbage, cutting the leafy greens off of the stems, as we will only be using the greens.  You can substitute green or purple cabbage in place of the Asian cabbage or double your bok choy if you don't want cabbage at all.  Next we will blanch our leafy greens by bringing a medium stock pot filled with water to boil.  Add your greens and let simmer for 10 minutes or until your water turns a beautiful shade of green.  Remove the bok choy and cabbage and place directly into a bowl of ice water.  This stops the cooking process.  Then take a handful of greens and queeze the water out, forming a clump in your hand.  Next chop your greens into a loose dice.

Then wash and dice your carrots and green onions. Then peel and dice your fresh ginger root.  If you love ginger you can add a bit more, but remember that ginger is a potent root and will quickly over power all of the other flavors.  Then peel and press your garlic toes.  If you don't have a press or prefer to chop, then finely dice your garlic.

In your medium wok, add a teaspoon of sesame oil and bring to high heat.  Then add your carrots, green onions, ginger and garlic, stir frying continuously for 5 to 10 minutes or until your carrots begin to soften.  Next add your Boca meatless crumbles directly into the wok.   I like Boca crumbles because they give you the consistency of a ground pork or beef and absorb the flavors around them quickly.  I take the bag right out of the freezer and break all of the crumbles apart before opening the bag and measuring out my amount.  Do not defrost them first, just add the frozen crumbles right to the wok. Continue to stir fry all of your ingredients together for another 5 minutes.  Add 1 Tbs of sesame oil, 1 Tbs of soy sauce, and 1 tsp of white rice vinegar to the mixture, along with a few pinches of pepper.  If you want to spice things up more, you can add some chili flakes!  Lastly, add your blanched, chopped greens and continue stir frying for a minute or two as your greens heat up and mix in.  If your mixture is too dry and not coming together, you can simply add 1 tsp of corn starch to some water, mix until dissolved and add to your mixture while still stir frying over high heat at the very end. This will act as a bonding agent to your filling.  Turn off your fire and place your filling in a bowl and let cook completely.

Rolling out your Dough
As mentioned earlier, I knead my dough for another 10 to 15 minutes after it has rested fully.  Flour a flat, clean surface and pull off a small amount of dough, rolling it into a ball between your palms.  Using your rolling pin, push down hard while rolling out in one direction, then turn your dough and roll out in the opposite direction.  You are rolling out a small, thin circle.  The circle needs to be about the same thickness all the way through and large enough to cover your Pot Stickers Mold Shaper.  A couple of notes to help you out: be sure to have extra flour on hand and dust your rolling pin and flat surface between each rolling.  If you are going to roll out all of your dough at one time, place sheets of parchment paper or layers of flour between the finished dough circles or they will stick together and become impossible to separate.

 
Molding your Pot Stickers
This is my favorite part!  I like using the Pot Stickers Mold Shaper only because it is fast and keeps all of your portions identical, which is great for events or dinner parties (and for a cool kitchen tool under $5.00, you just can't live without one).  I begin by setting up my area with my rolled out dough circles, my chilled filling, extra parchment paper, a little bowl of water (to seal the pot stickers), a little bowl of sesame oil (to grease the mold) and my Pot Stickers Mold Shaper.

Begin by oiling your Pot Stickers Mold Shaper with sesame oil. You only need a thin coat and will only need to apply a new coat after 4 to 5 finished pot stickers.  Then place a round dough circle, centered, on top of your Pot Stickers Mold Shaper. Spoon one to one and half spoon fulls of filling into the center of your dough where the well is located on the mold.

Next, using a clean finger, apply a bit of water to one side of the dough, along the bottom of the mold from hinge to hinge.  This will act as a glue when pressing the dough together.  Then gently bring the handles together and press firmly.

Next, use your fingers to pull straight down on the excess dough, while keeping the handles together.  This allows you to remove the excess while creating a nice Pot Sticker edge.  I make a pile of the excess dough and at the end, I knead it together and roll out as many circles as I have and make those into Pot Stickers as well.

Open your Pot Stickers Mold Shaper and gently remove your completed dumpling! 

Set these aside on your parchment paper, making sure they do not touch, as the dough may adhere together.  Also be sure not to stack them.

Cooking the Pot Stickers
Now that you have formed all of your Pot Stickers, you are ready to cook them up!  This recipe will make between 25 and 40 Pot Stickers, depending on how you roll your dough out.  I tend to average about 35 when I follow these measurements.  Decide how many you are cooking for this meal and set those aside.  You can take the remaining dumplings and place them directly into the freezer, freezing them solid and then portioning them into ziplocks or storage containers for later meals.  You do not need to defrost them when you are ready to cook more, just take as many as you want out of the freezer and follow the next steps as written.

Using your wok or skillet (I do not recommend using a non-stick skillet as these are called Pot Stickers for a reason), add a Tbs of sesame oil and bring your wok to high heat.  Place enough pot stickers in the wok to cover the bottom, but not so they are touching or overlapping.  Let them sear in the oil for about 1 minute, then carefully add just enough water to coat the bottom of the wok. Not so much water that they are swimming in a pool!

This will instantly create a billow of steam, so quickly cover the wok to create a steam bath.  I use a smaller wok flipped on top of my medium wok for this.  Let steam for exactly 2 minutes.

When your 2 minute is up, remove the lid (or small wok cover) and all of the water should have evaporated.  If you still have a bit of water remaining, leave the cover off and let the water finish turning to steam.

Use a pair of tongs to gently remove your cooked and steamed Pot Stickers. I recommend serving these little wonders with a dipping sauce consisting of the following mixture:

2 Tbs white rice vinegar
2 Tbs water
1/2 tsp organic agave
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Sesame seed, green onion shaving and/or red chili flakes on top.

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