I love dumplings! Especially ones with Asian flavors. I could eat them...and eat them...and eat them. Thankfully, my family feels the same way. Otherwise I'd have to make myself a big batch and sit in the closet to eat them all by myself. Poor me.
Oops, looks like I missed a tail. Luckily, I discovered that little sucker when I started to chop.
Put the shrimp in a medium bowl and add 2 tablespoon vegetable oil, ½ teaspoon sesame oil, and 1 ½ teaspoon soy sauce.
Add 1 tablespoon minced garlic and 1 tablespoon minced or grated peeled fresh ginger.
That powdery stuff that looks like Parmesan cheese is the grated ginger. If you don't typically use your ginger before it goes bad, peel and freeze it. When you're ready to use it, take it out of the freezer and grate on a microplane grater. You'll get powdery, feathery ginger.
Now comes the fun part. You're going to need 30-35 gyoza (round) or wonton (square) wrappers. Scoop a rounded teaspoon of the shrimp filling onto one half of the wrapper.
Moisten the border of the wrapper with a little water. You can use a brush, but I think it's a lot easier and more fun to do it with your finger.
That's my 4-year old's finger. See, it can be a family affair.
Fold over the wrapper and seal the edges with your finger.
Flatten the bottoms slightly and stand on a baking sheet covered with wax paper. Repeat with remaining dumplings.
Cooking time! You could simply bowl these little guys in a large pot for 2-3 minutes. However, I like my dumplings with a little crisp on them. So, I cook them in a large covered skillet.
Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Make sure the skillet is piping hot. This will help to avoid sticking dumplings. There's nothing more frustrating than spending the time to fill the dumplings only to have them come apart in the pan.
Add 2 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil. Place the dumplings in the pan. You will probably have to do this in two batches. Cook the dumplings for 2-3 minutes, until they are golden brown on the bottom.
Add ⅓ cup of warm water, place the lid on the skillet, and let the dumplings steam for 3 minutes.
Remove from the pan and serve with soy sauce or gyoza sauce for dipping.
I served these little darlings with cold peanut noodles with veggies. See my Thai Chicken Pizza recipe for the peanut sauce. Mix it into whole-wheat spaghetti or soba noodles.
Karen
I love the way you illustrated the steps. very easy to follow. Great job.
thanks
Cookin' Canuck
Victoria, it does sound as though your wok got a little too hot (though I realize I called for it to be hot). The purpose of the hot pan is simply to brown the bottom of the potstickers, so if that happens in less than 2-3 minutes, that's okay. The cooking of the shrimp occurs when you add the water, cover, and steam the dumplings for 3 minutes. If you are using a steamer (which I wouldn't recommend for this recipe b/c you won't get the browned bottoms), there are a few methods you can use to avoid the dumplings from sticking: spray with cooking spray, brush with canola oil, line the steamer with Napa cabbage leaves, or place each dumpling on a carrot round. I'm glad you enjoyed the flavor, but I hope the process is a little easier next time.
Victoria
Yummy yummy! These were appreciated by both my bf and my mom. I only ran into some snags with the cooking - maybe my wok was TOO hot, because there was no way I could have cooked these babies for 2-3 minutes - they were toasted brown after 30 seconds! But, I was worried that the shrimp wasn't cooked all the way through, so I put them on a steamer and some of them stuck and tore. :o( Not many though, so it was definitely salvageable! I LOVE the filling, so I'll have to experiment a bit more with the cooking part. Thanks!!!
Cookin' Canuck
Hannah, you won't be sorry!
HannahBanana
Yah...its official...I'm making these this week! Yummo!
Mediterranean kiwi
in crete we have a different kind of filo pastry that i think can be substituted for the wonton wrappers - might give this a go with that instead
Cookin' Canuck
Thanks, Sharon. I just had leftovers today for lunch and they were so flavorful!
Sharon
Oh wow, that looks DELICIOUS! Shrimp!!! Yum!