How to Accidentally Make About 50 Chicken Potstickers

The first step - and this is very important - is to pay absolutely no attention to any recipe on the subject. The second step is to have no idea the tiny amount of filling that actually fits into a round wonton wrapper. The third step is to start cooking and the fourth step involves a great deal of "I can't believe we ate that many." (We didn't eat all of them, for the record.)

In reality, I basically followed this recipe from Food.com. This is a great way to use up leftover chicken, pork or beef, and its very likely that all you'll have to buy is the wrappers! You may even make a zillion on purpose so you can freeze some. I made a pan-full, and when we were done cooked up the stragglers for our lunches tomorrow. This made a lot more than I was expecting because I did not realize how little stuffing fits in each wrapper, and just how much filling I was making. I guess that's why the wrappers come in packages of 100.


Because we live in a grocery store dead-zone where apparently ground chicken isn't something that people want, I used just under a pound of chicken tenders, which I shredded. The slight chunkyness of the pieces made me skeptical that the meat could really cook through with this method, so I sauteed the chicken pieces in a sesame teriyaki sauce before assembling, and cut down the soy sauce by half. I also added a small carrot and a rib of celery, both finely chopped, and about a teaspoon of lime juice to the filling mixture. I was able to find round wraps (mine were made by NaSoya brand) so I used those instead of egg roll wraps. Egg roll wraps would make cute little packets, if you put all the the filling in the center and gathered the wrapper above it with the corners sticking up. But they would also be a fair bit bigger.


These aren't really all that different from the baked egg roll recipe I posted about in early May, at least in composition and procedure. Just don't go thinking that because you successfully rolled an egg roll that wrapping up a potsticker will be easy peasy. At least, it wasn't for me, and I ended up with a few sadly torn ones. Such is life. I'm sure that every person who has ever rolled an egg roll or wrapped a potsticker will tell you that their way is the right way, so I trust you will develop your own system. Just be gentle and take the time to figure out just how much filling your wraps can hold.

But now to the important part: These were yummy. I think the lime juice in the mixture made a big impact, and in the future I think I could use even more veggies - possibly even double, to about 2 ribs of celery, 2 carrots, and 4 green onions. Much like the egg rolls, these are much easier than they might seem, and will be ready in about the same amount of time it takes to get to the takeout place and back.


Quote of the Day: I prefer the Chinese method of eating....You can do anything at the table except arm wrestle. ~ Jeff Smith (The Frugal Gourmet)