Guest Post: Spicy Mushroom Potstickers
Recipe by Carole Nelson Brown of The Yum Yum Factor
I love nothing more than a great potsticker and if you buy the dumpling wrappers from the store, they are super quick and easy to make. You have the option to make my tried and true, partially whole wheat wrappers from scratch, if you are up for a bit of a challenge or you can just buy premade wrappers from the store. Look for round wrappers that are about 3” in diameter as any smaller and they get finicky to work with.
Pulsed mushrooms provide a great, meaty texture and as we all know, mushrooms are umami bombs that can stand up to a bit of spice. Once you start using Gochujang, you will want to start putting this Korean fermented red chili paste, in everything – it’s savoury, sweet and spicy all at the same time. I use white button or crimini mushrooms and pulse them in the food processor until they are coarsely chopped – just a few pulses will do it.
Spicy Mushroom Potstickers
Makes approximately 32 potstickers
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 tbls canola or other flavourless oil
- 1 tbls sesame oil
- 3 1/2 cups button or crimini mushrooms, coarsely chopped
- 1 tbls grated ginger
- 2 tsp grated garlic
- 2 cups bagged cabbage coleslaw mix
- 2 tbls low sodium soy sauce
- 1 to 2 tbls gochujang – taste after adding the first and adjust
- 3 green onions, finely sliced
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1-2 tbls canola oil
Partial Whole Wheat Dumpling Wrappers
- 100g whole wheat flour
- 220g all-purpose flour
- 175g hottest tap water (approx. 3/4 cup but the whole wheat flour might mean it needs a bit more water)
*If not making your own dough, 1 package 3” round wonton wrappers
Dipping Sauce
- 1 tbls canola oil
- 1/2 to 1 tsp gochugaru (Korean chili flake – use regular chili flake if not available)
- 2 tbls reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbls rice wine vinegar
Method
Filling
- Heat a skillet over med high heat, add the canola and sesame oil and then sauté the mushrooms, ginger and garlic for a few minutes before throwing in the coleslaw mix. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables are softened. Add in the soy sauce and the gochujang and mix well – taste to see if it’s spicy enough and add more gochujang if you like. Cook for another couple of minutes before removing from the heat, mix in the green onions and let it cool to room temperature.
Dumpling Wrappers
- Put the flours and the hot water in a bowl and use a wooden spoon to mix it all together into a straggly dough. When it’s almost holding together, I start using my hand and I sprinkle a tiny bit of water as needed until it comes together in a rough ball. The whole wheat flour usually means I am going to have to add a bit more water but I still like to start with the correct amount and adjust as I go.
- Place dough on the counter and knead for about 3 or 4 minutes. The dough should be tacky but not sticky and you shouldn’t need to use flour. If the dough does feel sticky, use a tiny bit of flour on the surface and knead it in. You will end up with a pretty smooth ball of dough. Put it in a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel and let it sit on the counter for at least 20 minutes and up to 2 hrs.
- When ready to roll out the dough, take it out of the ball and knead a few times. The easiest way to do this, if you are not used to making these skins, is to roll out a bit at a time like a pie crust and then use a round cookie cutter and re roll the scraps. You will waste a bit but it’s much easier than rolling out each wrapper individually.
- Even easier is to use your pasta rolling machine and treat it like sheets of pasta, rolling it out using the 6 or 7 setting – anything less than 5 will be too thick and more than 7 will be too thin. Use a round cutter and cut out circles. I like a 3” circle as any smaller, and it’s hard to work with.
Assembly
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Depending on the size of your wrappers, put about 1/2 tbls of filling on one, fold in half and then pleat. You can also use a plastic dumpling crimp but it’s fun to learn how to crimp a proper potsticker and they don’t have to be perfect to be delicious. Just fold in half and use a fork to crimp the edges in a real pinch.
- To pleat, fold in half like a taco and pinch just the centre spot together. Working on one side at a time, pleat the skin on the front half towards the centre and pinch each pleat to seal. Make 2 or 3 pleats and then do the same on the other side and then pinch the outer corners to make sure there are no open spots.
*note- if you are using fresh dough, you don’t need to use water to seal your potstickers but if you use store bought dumpling wrappers, you need to dip your finger in water and run it around the perimeter of the wrapper each time to make the edges stick together, regardless of how you choose to form your dumplings.
- Put the filled dumpling onto the parchment lined tray and repeat until either all the filling is gone, or all of the wrappers are used up.
- One by one, dip your finger into a bowl of water and wet the bottom of each dumpling and press it into the sesame seeds before you return it to the parchment lined sheet.
- At this point, you can freeze them on a tray and throw them into a zip lock freezer bag or container or cook them right away.
Cooking
- To cook, heat the canola oil in a frying pan with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat. When the oil is hot (sputters when you flick a bit of water onto the pan). Add the dumplings to the pan (not touching) and cook until the bottoms are nice and golden – you will have to keep lifting them up to check. Carefully pour in about 1/3 cup of water (careful, it will splatter), add the lid, lower the heat slightly and let them steam until the water evaporates – at least 8 minutes for homemade wrappers OR ad about 1/4 cup water and let steam for 4 or 5 minutes for store bought wrappers.
- If you haven’t done so, mix together all of the ingredients for the dipping sauce and put in a small bowl for serving.
- At that point, remove the lid and let any excess water evaporate, keep checking the bottoms to make sure they don’t burn.
- Remove to a plate and serve with the dipping sauce.
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