Pork & Vegetable Pot Stickers

One of my favourite things when we go out for Asian food is Pot Stickers (gyozas, dumplings).  However, they can be pricey at just over $1 each at most restaurants.  You can buy frozen ones at most grocery stores, and some of them aren’t too bad, but you just never really know what’s in them.

Fortunately, these tasty morsels can be made at home.  They are pretty inexpensive to make, and with a little practice, you can have a whole bunch made up in a couple hours.  They freeze really well so it’s easy to take a few out and cook them whenever you want.  And honestly, once you make them yourself, you will never buy frozen ones again!  The flavour you can achieve when you make them yourself is just amazing.  And you can play with flavours to suit your needs, making them spicier if you like a bit of a kick, or milder if you prefer. You can also change up the type of meat and veggies you use to suit any dietary needs you might have.

I like to make mine with pork and veggies, but feel free to play and experiment.  To me, that is the best part about making your own meals.

Pork & Vegetable Pot Stickers

 

60 Pot Sticker wrappers (wonton wrappers)

2 cups shredded cabbage

1 pound lean ground pork

1/2 cup chopped green onion

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 inch piece of ginger, grated

1 egg

1 TBSP Soy sauce

1 tsp Sriracha sauce

2 tsp brown sugar

Mix all ingredients (except wrappers) in a large bowl.

Once the ingredients are well mixed, begin filling your pot sticker.  Place approximately 2 tsp of filling in the middle of a wrapper.  To close, dip your finger in a bowl of water and wet the edge of one side of the wrapper.  Fold the wrapper in half, over the filling and press the edges together to form a seal.  Pinch and press along the entire edge to ensure the pot sticker is sealed shut.

Place the pot stickers on a baking tray in a single layer.

Continue working until you have filled all your wrappers.  You should get approximately 60 pot stickers, depending on how much filling you use.  After you fill a couple you will get the feeling of how much you can use while still being able to close the wrapper.

If you want to freeze them, stick the baking tray in the freezer.  Allow the pot stickers to freeze thoroughly, then place them in an air tight container or zip lock bag.

To Cook:

Heat 3 TBSP of oil in a large skillet.  (I like using cast iron for this).  Once the oil is hot, place the pot stickers in the pan seam side up.  Allow to cook for about 1 minute, until the bottom is crispy.  Now turn all of the pot stickers onto their side.  Cook for about 1 minute, then add 1/4 cup water to the pan and place the lid on the pan.  Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.   Remove from the heat and serve with dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce

1 Part Rice Vinegar

2 Parts Light Soy Sauce

Sriracha Sauce to taste

2-3 tbsp Chopped green onion.

Mix vinegar, soy and Sriracha.  Heat in sauce pan or microwave just until warm.  Pour into small ramekins and garnish with green onion.

 

Some additional tips & ideas for this recipe:

• Use Coleslaw mix to save time shredding cabbage
• Try adding extra veggies, such as red pepper or bamboo shoots
• The method above creates a crisp bottom and 1 crisp side.  If you want them crispy all around, flip them one more time before adding the water and steaming.
• These cook from frozen easily.  Just add a little extra cooking time to ensure they are cooked through.

Honey-Mustard Ribs

I love flavourful, juicy, fall off the bone ribs.  BBQ ribs are good, but there is an art to getting it right and I find that there are so many variables to having them come out the same way each time.

My ribs are not done on the BBQ, but I promise that you will not care.  They are so delicious, it’s unlikely that you will have leftovers.  These ribs are slow cooked in the oven and then finished off under the broiler.  You don’t have to babysit them all day either, in fact, once they go in the oven you should not lift the tinfoil until it’s time to stick them under the broiler.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Honey-Mustard Ribs

2 racks of Pork Back Ribs

1/4 cup All-Purpose Meat Rub

3/4 Cup Yellow Mustard

1/2 Cup Ketchup

1/2 Cup Honey

1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

2 TBSP Worchestersire Sauce

4 Cloves Garlic (Finely chopped)

1 TBSP Hot Sauce

1/2 Cup Orange Juice

2 TBSP Rye or Whiskey

**You will be baking these ribs at 300 degrees for 3 hours and then broiling for about 10 min**

2 Hours prior to beginning cooking – coat both sides of each rack with the All-Purpose Meat Rub.  Place in a roasting pan that is big enough to hold both racks and refrigerate until ready to cook.

While ribs are in the fridge, mix remaining ingredients in large bowl.

When it’s time to cook, Pre-Heat oven to 300 degrees.

Pour 1.5 Cups of the sauce over the ribs and then cover the pan tightly with foil.  Make sure no steam can escape.  Place ribs in the oven and cook for 3 hours.  Do not peek!

When there is about 15 min of cook time remaining, pour the rest of the sauce into a medium sauce pan and cook over med-high heat, stir occasionally until reduced to about half.

After 3 hours, take the ribs out of the oven.  Turn the broiler on.  Drain any liquid that has formed n the pan and cut the ribs into portions of 2 or 3 ribs.

With a pastry brush, generously coat the ribs with the reduced sauce (both sides).

Now place the ribs under the broiler for about 5 min before turning and broiling the other side another 5 min.  You will have to watch closely as all broilers are different. You want the sauce to glaze and get sticky, but not burn.

Take the ribs out of the oven and serve.

Some additional tips & ideas for this recipe:

• DO NOT PEEK during the 3 hour cook time.  You do not want steam to escape, it is key to making these moist and delicious
• Reduce the hot sauce if you don’t like spicy

All-Purpose Meat Rub

If you have been using packaged meat rubs and have been looking for a good, all-purpose rub, then you have come to the right place.

I stopped using packaged seasonings years ago.  I just don’t like all the additives in them; MSG and other unpronounceable ingredients, not to mention an obscene amount of salt.  It took me a while to create one that had a good balance of flavours to be used on a variety of meats.  This one is equally great on steak, chicken and ribs.  It makes a large enough batch so that you aren’t having to make it all the time, but small enough that it doesn’t lose flavour or clump up before you have a chance to use it.

Just sprinkle this on your meat half hour to a day before you are ready to cook it to allow the meat to absorb the flavour.  It does well both on the bbq and in the oven.

I hope you enjoy!

1 TBSP Sea Salt

2 TBSP Chili Powder

1 TBSP Paprika

1 TBSP Oregano

1 tsp Onion powder

2 tsp Garlic powder

1 tsp Dried Parsley

1.5 tsp Ground Mustard

1 TBSP Raw Sugar

Mix all ingredients in a small mason jar.  Place lid on jar and shake.

Some additional tips & ideas for this recipe:

• If you like things a bit spicier, try adding 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• The raw sugar is a must! It just doesn’t taste the same with any other.  I use Raw Organic Cane sugar.  (and once you try this you’ll probably use it for everything!)

Here you will see my Famous Rotisserie Chicken cooked with the All-Purpose Meat Rub.  It gives the chicken a beautiful colour.  Recipe for the chicken, the zucchini chips and the yogurt dill dip seen in the photo will all be posted shortly.

Remember, homemade doesn’t have to be difficult, but it will surely always beat store-bought!

Thanks for stopping by!