Pork Pot Stickers (Chinese Dumplings) & Dipping Sauce

I've been having a serious craving for good Chinese food and unfortunately, there's no Chinese food
restaurants in our little town that we like.  We had our wedding catered in '08 by a friend who owned the best Chinese restaurant in town, but the building burned down a few years later and she never reopened it.  We've been without good Chinese food in town and the solution to that - make it ourselves.

While these are mildly time consuming, they're actually fairly easy to make.  If two people can get together and make them, it makes it much faster.  One person can be chopping vegetables while the other is adding them to the pork with the wet ingredients.  Then during assembly time, one person can be scooping the mix onto the wraps while the other pinches and seals the dumplings.  Team work!

We always have a ton of vegetables in our house, so we actually had a lot of the ingredients already and it didn't cost us much at all.  If you have to buy all the vegetables and end up with leftovers, just chop it all up for a salad - we eat cabbage and vegetable salads all the time.  Or soup would be another good option for the leftover cabbage, pepper, onion, carrot... man, you could make a killer soup!  

I went old school for tunes with this recipe and pulled out X's "Nausea".  I got to see them a few times in Chicago.  I always think of John Doe (bass player) in the movie "Great Balls of Fire" as Winona Ryder's dad.  I love that movie.  It's so terrible and cheesy and awesome. -jen

PORK POT STICKERS (CHINESE DUMPLINGS)
Prep Time:  about 45 minutes
Rest Time:  30 minutes
Cook Time:  6 minutes
Difficulty:  Medium
Makes:  about 80

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 cup cabbage (Napa or green), finely chopped
• 1/2 cup carrots, shredded

  

  We've been buying poblano peppers instead of bell peppers because
  they're significantly cheaper and similar in flavour!

  
  

• 1/2 cup green onions, finely diced
• 1/3 cup bell pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 4 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Sambal (Asian chili paste)
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce 
• 1 teaspoon Chinese mustard (or Dijon mustard)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon corn starch (plus extra for dusting)
• about 80 round pot sticker/wonton wrappers
• oil for frying (vegetable, canola, peanut, etc)
• water for sealing and steaming

Pork and vegetable mix

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients (except the wonton wrappers, oil and water) until well mixed.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (but you can refrigerate longer).

Sprinkle a baking sheet lightly with corn starch and set aside.  Have a small bowl of water for your assembly.  I worked with 9 at a time on a cutting board, keeping the unused ones covered with plastic wrap so they don't dry out.  Place 1 teaspoon of filling into center of wrapper.  Wet edge of wrapper and fold over, crimping/pinching edges together to seal.  Place pot sticker on the corn starched baking sheet.

 (If you don't want to cook all 80 pot stickers, you can freeze them uncooked on the baking sheet for about an hour, then put in a freezer bag and freeze for later.)

In a large skillet (that has a fitted lid), heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil over a medium high heat.  Add pot stickers to pan, one at a time, in a single layer. (In our 11" skillet, we could fit 18-20 at once.) Do not over-crowd.  Fry for 2 minutes until light golden-brown.  Add 1/3 cup of water, cover and steam for 2 minutes.  Remove lid and continue to fry for another 2 minutes.  If you do a second batch, just add more oil to the pan and let it get hot before adding your second batch and repeat.

Serve hot with dipping sauce (see recipe below).

I like to put the veggies in,
then pour the wet ingredients over them

POT STICKER DIPPING SAUCE

• 1 tablespoon green onion, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
• 1 teaspoon Sambal
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce 
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce

In a small bowl, add all ingredients.  You can use immediately, but if you make it before you start assembling your pot stickers and stick it in the fridge to let the flavours marry, it tastes way better!

Char Siu Pork Ribs (Chinese Barbecue Pork)

I was completely stoked with how the marinade came out for these pork ribs.  These are great as is, just served with a side dish or two.  But I was specifically making them so I could chop them up in the food processor and use them in spring rolls!  I'd happily use this recipe on chicken as well. 

Been listening to old AFI recently, when they were a little faster and a little grittier, so went with "Lower Your Head And Take It In The Body".  -jen

CHAR SIU PORK RIBS (CHINESE BARBECUE PORK)
Prep Time: 6-8 hours for marinating
Cook Time: about 30 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy

• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup hoisen sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
• 2 teaspoons Chinese Five Spice powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1.5 teaspoons red powdered food colouring
• 3/4 teaspoons orange powdered food colouring
• 1/4 cup peanut or vegetable oil
• 4-6 large boneless pork ribs (country-style ribs), about 3 pounds

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients except the pork ribs.  Microwave for 1 minute and whisk again.  Place pork ribs in a gallon sized Ziplock bag and add 2/3 of the char siu sauce to the bag.  Marinate in refrigerator for 6-8 hours.

Add 1/4 cup peanut or vegetable oil to the remaining char siu sauce, cover, and refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

After marinating, place ribs on a large baking sheet (I recommend lining with foil to make clean up easy because the sugars will burn!)  Roast until rib temperature reaches 120 degrees F (about 20 minutes), turning and basting ribs with remaining sauce every 10 minutes.  When ribs reach 120 degrees internally, turn up heat to 425 degrees F and cook until ribs reach an internal temperature of 140 degrees F (about 10 minutes).  The higher heat at the end helps the charring, but if you're looking for even more of a candied char on the outside, stick 'em under your broiler until they're to your liking.

Asian Salad Dressing & Marinade

Asian Dressing with Chinese Chicken Salad

For years now, when we've wanted an Asian dressing, we've just thrown some crap together.  Some have been good, some have been not-so-good, but we never wrote down what we did.  So a little while ago, I decided I was going to get myself a solid recipe that I could make that would be consistently awesome every time.  Bam!  Here it is!  I love this dressing!  We use it for all kinds of things: green leaf salads with some cucumber, shredded carrot, green onions and cashews; marinade for chicken or pork (but only marinate it for a few hours or the vinegar and lime juice will "cook" the meat and make it kind of mealy); sometimes we'll toss some veggies like broccoli, onions, bell peppers and zucchini with it and then roast them; made a Thai-style 4-bean salad with it.  Very diverse.  Very yummy.

I was in an Elvis mood the other day (because I love Elvis)... but then I remembered U.S. Bombs' "Rocks in Memphis" and had to listen to it again.  You think Lisa Marie has even heard this song?  -jen

ASIAN SALAD DRESSING AND MARINADE
Time:  all of like... 5 minutes, maybe, if you measure slowly
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  1.5 cups

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons hoisen
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• juice and zest of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon hot mustard (or any mustard)
• dash of sriracha (or more, if you want it spicy)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
• 1 cup canola (or vegetable) oil

Combine all ingredients together in a blender and blend for a few seconds!  You can store this in your refrigerator for a few weeks at least.  It should emulsify pretty well, so there shouldn't be much separation.  Just give it a quick shake before use!

Asian Chicken Thighs

I don't have much of an intro for this; it's been a long day.  But these are delicious, and they were a pretty quick fix for us... we usually have all of these ingredients on hand. It'd still be worth buying the stuff if you don't have it, because chicken thighs are cheap and easy (like your mom) and this is better than just plain ol' thighs.

Here is a completely random song that has nothing to do with Asian Chicken Thighs - Millencolin singing "Devil Me". -jen

ASIAN CHICKEN THIGHS

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 heaping tablespoon Hoisen sauce
• 1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 heaping teaspoon lime relish (or juice and zest of 1 lime)
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
• a few dashes of Sriracha hot sauce
• 8 skinless chicken thigh*

* In the picture, you can see I used thighs with the skin on, but I wouldn't recommend it because the skin won't crisp up due to the marinade, and you'll end up with some soggy, gelatinous chicken skin. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Combine all ingredients except chicken in a bowl and whisk.  Place chicken and marinade in a Ziploc bag and marinate no more than 3 hours (or your meat will get tough from the vinegar).  Place in a shallow baking dish and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken has reached 160 degrees and the juices run clear.  Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.