Gluten Free Chicken Potstickers

Gluten Free Chicken Potstickers, originally uploaded by Kate Chan.

(Are you out there Colleen? I hope so! You’re the inspiration for this late night creation.)

Late last fall, my husband and I set out to recreate some egg rolls. Culling tips from his Chinese heritage, we had the filling in no time. It was the dough for the egg roll wraps that took us a tad longer – but not much. We played around a bit with starch and flour ratios and came up with a winning recipe.

While we were making egg rolls, my love remarked on how easily he thought we could make potstickers from the same dough. Lo and behold, Colleen asked about potstickers in February and I told her of his idea. And now, she’s posted another comment and let me know that the recipe did indeed work for her for potstickers. (Hooray!)

When my love got home, I told her of Colleen’s successful potstickers. That whole conversation just triggered a huge potsticker craving around the house and before I knew it, we were once again cooking at 11:30 PM. (Seriously, what is wrong with us? LOL)

I’m happy to report that not only do potstickers work very well with this wrapper recipe, but they are also easily frozen and made whenever you want them. (And this is told to you by someone who doesn’t freeze much because I prefer not too and hate defrosting breads, etc)

While forming potstickers does take a bit of practice and a little time, this one recipe will make two dozen potstickers. (Perfect for taste testing and freezing.) Don’t worry about crimping the edges of the potstickers perfectly, you just want them sealed. Potstickers are usually pinched/folded along the edges and the dough cooperates well with this IF you keep it moist while working.

IMPORTANT TIPS/HINTS:

• Keep the prepared dough covered with a damp (not wet!) paper towel to keep it moist. I rolled the dough out in three of four batches and then used a large 3.5″ biscuit/circle cutter to cut out the wrappers. I kept the cut wrappers and the dough covered with the damp paper towels the entire time we worked.
• Make the filling FIRST and have it ready to go so the wrappers are not sitting out while you make it.
• Work with a buddy if you can find one. The work goes much faster. (We finished making one recipe in under an hour together.)
• Potstickers are usually thicker than ravioli, but you can make yours thinner if you would like. Please adjust your cooking time for this change.
• The filling does not need to be precooked for potstickers. Precooked filling (like in egg rolls) may be more crumbly than a potsticker filling which usually sets together as it cooks.
• You can substitute pork for the chicken in this recipe to make a more traditional potsticker.

Here’s a picture of the crimped edges.
(Sorry the photo is a bit blurry, but I thought it might help to see the edges.)

Gluten Free Chicken Potstickers

Gluten Free Potstickers – Chicken Filling
Makes two dozen potstickers
Ingredients:
2 chicken thighs, deboned, skinned and trimmed
3 garlic cloves
1 egg
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 Tablespoons GF Soy Sauce (We use San-J Gold)
1 Tablespoon sesame oil (or toasted sesame oil)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Chinese five spice
2 stalks of green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Put chicken meat into the food processor with the garlic, egg, cornstarch, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper, and five spice. (Everything EXCEPT the green onion, onion, and parsley.) Process until you have a fine ground meat (which my husband is calling a “meat paste”.)
2. Stir in by hand, onions, parsley and green onions.
3. Set aside a make the potsticker wrappers.

Gluten Free Potsticker Wrappers
(Same recipe as for my GF egg rolls which can be found here.)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup cold water + 1/4 cup cold water (added tablespoon by tablespoon) (**Or more!  Depends on your flours)
1 egg (whisked in to 1/2 cup cold water) + 1 egg for sealing egg rolls
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch (+ more for dusting)
1/3 cup corn starch
1/3 cup sweet rice flour (+ more to avoid sticky dough)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon gelatin

Directions:

1. Blend all of the dry ingredients together in the bowl of your food processor.
2. Mix together the egg and water. Slowly drizzle this liquid into the dough mixture with the food processor on. Process until the dough comes together. If the dough is sticky, add sweet rice flour by the tablespoon until it is no longer sticky. If the dough is too dry, add cold water by the tablespoon to pull it together.
3. Roll out about 1/3 of the dough (keep the remaining dough under a damp paper towel) between two sheets of parchment paper. The dough should not stick to the parchment paper. If it does stick, knead some sweet rice flour into the dough until it no longer sticks.
4. Roll the dough to 1/8 of an inch. (No thinner than 1/16″ or the dough will rip while cooking.)
5. Cut into 3.5″ wide circles.
6. Cover prepared/cut wrappers with a damp paper towel.
7. Work quickly to roll out and cut remaining dough.

ASSEMBLY:

1. Into each circle place a teaspoon or a teaspoon and a half of filling.
2. Fold the dough in half, matching the edges.
3. Crimp the edges by folding and tucking the edges as you would for a pie crust. (If the crimping is difficult, you can also seal them with a ravioli cutter or with a fork. Be careful not to pierce the dough with the tines.)
4. Once the potstickers are assembled, there is no reason to cover them with a damp towel.

COOKING FRESH POTSTICKERS:

1. Boil the potstickers (fresh, not frozen) for 8-10 minutes in rapidly boiling salted water.
2. Drain.
3. Pan fry the potstickers with olive oil to crisp the edges.
4. Serve with dipping sauce.

COOKING FROZEN POTSTICKERS:

1. Boil frozen potstickers in rapidly boiling water for 16-20 minutes.
2. Drain.
3. Pan fry with olive oil to crisp edges.
4. Serve with dipping sauce.

POTSTICKER DIPPING SAUCE
1 part white wine vinegar
2 parts GF soy sauce
minced garlic
minced ginger
red pepper flakes
(add a bit of sugar if too bitter for your taste)

Happy eating all!
-Kate
PS. What’s a potsticker? Well, it’s a Chinese dumpling. And this dough? We’re using it next on peirogies. 🙂 Anything is possible. You just have to give it a try.

THANK YOU COLLEEN! 😉