Pot Stickers My Way

  Well again you can see the Asian influences on how and what we eat. Today’s treat will be pork pot stickers. I started out with small empanada wrappers that you can buy in Mi Comisariato or Super Maxi. The wrappers come 24 to a package, more than enough for a few meals. They do sell large ones – I use those to make pirogi…and will share my recipes the next time I make them.

Pork Pot Stickers

• 1 package small empanada wrappers (24 individual wheat flour skins)
• 1/4 lb ground pork
• 1 spring onion (white and green chopped fine)
• 1/4 t hot pepper flakes
• 1/4 green pepper chopped fine
• 1/2 small red onion chopped fine
• small piece of ginger cleaned and grated fine
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1/2 t Sesame Oil
• 1 t sesame seeds (roasted in a hot dry pan for just a minute)
• 1 t fish sauce (if you have it) just adds another dimension to the flavors

Set aside the wrappers, be sure you keep them covered with a damp towel so they do not dry out before you can fill them. Mix other ingredients together and put in refrigerator for the flavors to blend. Normally at this point I bring out my “Tester” Joe and fry up a small patty of the meat mixture and have Joe taste for seasoning.  I am too close to the cooking process to be objective. ha ha

Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce

• 1/4 C fruit juice (orange juice works great, but you can use lemon or even grape or pomegranate).  It needs to be a pleasant flavor as if you were going to drink it, so sweeten as you would a juice drink.
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T rice wine or white vinegar
• 1 T chopped onion (spring onion or red onion)
• 1 t grated ginger
• 1 t sesame oil
• 1 t sesame seeds
• 1 T sugar (brown or panela)
• 1/4 t hot pepper flakes

mix all together and set aside, taste for seasoning, it should be sweet, spicy and a bit sour.

Now is the time to fill those little empanada wrappers. Have a large dish handy to place your filled dumplings on. Sprinkle a small amount of corn flour on the plate so the wrappers do not stick. Put 1/2 cup of cold water in a shallow bowl.  Take one wrapper and place 1/2 teaspoon of filling in the middle. Using your index finger run a small amount of water onto the edge of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half sealing the edges together and crimping just a bit to hold in the filling.  Place on the dish until all the wrappers are filled. Squash it a bit so it has a flat bottom and kind of stands up. Take a large frying pan with one tablespoon of good vegetable oil in it place on high heat. When the pan is very hot reduce the heat to medium and place each wrapper flat side down to cook until crispy, approximately 2-3 minutes. Take a peek and it should have a brown crust now it is time to add 1/4 cup of water to the bottom of the pan and cover with a tight fitting lid for 10 minutes. The wrapper should be soft like a noodle and the filling should be perfectly done.

Serve with the Sweet and Sour Sauce and a nice salad. You are ready to enjoy great pot stickers…

Pomegranates (Granadas)

Pomegranates are bountiful on the little tree we have in our yard. I have handed them out as folks come by because unless I decide to juice them we will never eat all the fruit. Just one section has the following fruits.

The trees are lush and green with more fruit now that they are being watered and fertilized regularly.  We may have to remove this tree when we finish our plans for a ramada and patio in this section of the yard.  I would love to try to transplant it to another part of the yard but am afraid that it will die if I do that. Anyone have any suggestions on how to move this beauty with a high rate of success?

I did plant a few seeds at the suggestion of my friend Deborah from Bahia and have what looks to be three baby trees starting up. She did tell me that grow fast so my next move is to transplant them to their own container and see how fast they really grow.

I also tried juicing the seeds, it worked well adding them to the blender and giving it a quick buzz for about 20 seconds. Pour into a strainer and uses a spatula to squeeze the juice out of the pulp. It was delicious and this is an easy way to use the fruit.