Luci's Chinese Dumplings

Every once in a while, we start craving food we can't get in the tiny burg where we live. A big food culture we miss is Chinese--and there's not a Chinese restaurant for at least half an hour in any direction. Luci's been playing with different recipes and cookbooks since we made the move to the country. It's always edible, but some experiments are better than others. Let me tell ya, this time we have a winner. She just made this for our family tonight, and really, it's even better than we get in our semi-local Chinese buffet line. Wish I'd taken pictures--they were really beautiful, but they disappeared way too fast to snap a photo. Thought I'd post the recipe in case anyone else is dying for potstickers.

Luci's Chinese Dumplings

1 lb. ground pork
1/2 lb. ground turkey OR ground chicken
1/2 lb. thawed, peeled shrimp (can use cooked or raw)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/3 cup chicken stock
1/2 can sliced water chestnuts
3 or 4 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon garlic/ginger mixture, or 1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic and 1 1/2 tsp. minced ginger
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Whiz above ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
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1 package refrigerated round dumpling wrappers (or square wonton wrappers with corners cut off)
1 small cup of water for moistening
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Lay out six wrappers side by side. Drop a teaspoon of the meat mixture in the center of each wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wrapper with water and fold together, pleating as you go. Place finished dumplings on a cookie sheet and cover with a moist paper towel. Repeat until you run out of wrappers. (Freeze the rest of the meat mixture for another day.)

You can either cook these as steamed dumplings or as potstickers.

For steamed dumplings, place in a bamboo steamer over boiling water and cook for 20 minutes.

For potstickers, heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet. Place dumplings in the skillet with 1/3 cup water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until the water has evaporated. Remove lid and cook until undersides of the dumplings are brown.

Serve with dipping sauce, recipe follows.

Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chili sauce (we like Sriracha) OR a few drops of chili oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil

MMMMMMMMMMM! Be jealous, we also had lettuce wraps and grilled chicken with peanut sauce.