gluten free pot sticker dumplings (metric)

I posted the original recipe and method for these a few months ago, but never quite got round to converting the recipe from cups into metric measures.
The teen and I made these as part of our spurious Chinese New Year's Eve feast dinner this weekend so I have finally got round to writing up the metric measures.  This time we made the filling with minced chicken thighs (including the fat & a bit of finely chopped skin) replacing the pork, as we were having pork belly elsewhere in the meal, it made a great substitution with a dash of chinese rice wine & an extra pinch of salt.

Please refer back to the original post for the original filling and method here.

Pot sticker wrappers:

• 175g rice flour
• 40g tapioca starch
• 40g corn starch
• 46g sweet rice flour
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp psyllium husks
• 1/2 tsp kuzu
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• 120g cold water

Method:

1. Sieve all the dry ingredients together.
2. Beat the egg into the cold water.
3. Whilst stirring your flour, gradually pour in the water making sure the flour absorbs the water as you go.
4. Bring the lumps of flour together in the bowl by hand.
5. If the dough is too wet or sticky add more sweet rice flour, if it is too dry add water 1 tablespoon at a time.
6. Knead this for a couple of minutes on a work surfaced sprinkled with a little corn starch
7. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces.  Leave all but 1 piece in a bowl under a damp tea towel.
8. Dust your work surface with corn starch and roll out the small piece of dough until it is between 1/16th" & 1/8th" thick.  
9. Using a 3-3.5 inch round cutter, cut out as many shapes as you can, put the circles to one side under a damp cloth and carry on with each piece of dough in turn.  I found that if you collected up the trimmings and sprinkled a couple of drops of water on them, you could combine them into the next piece of dough without any problems.
10. Carry on until all the pot stickers are cut out.  This recipe makes 50 dumpling skins.

click here for a filling recipe and cooking method

Chinese tea eggs

Chinese food fascinates me but nothing caused me more confusion on initial discovery than this method of cooking eggs.  The first Chinese recipe I book I owned was Marks & Spencer's book 'Chinese Cooking' by Deh-ta Hsiung and bought in 1981.  I still have it and it brings back so many happy memories of my (retrospectively staid) introduction to this exotic and alien cuisine.
Chinese takeaways didn't feature on my radar until my mid-teens.  My introduction came instead from a wonderful family friend, Vera,  who took my younger sister and I to Chinatown in London for the first time when I was about 12.  I was hooked from the first moment, the smells, the hustle and bustle, and the ducks hanging in the windows of the restaurants as we strolled by.
Vera took us to a restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue where she was greeted as a long lost friend.  It's only whilst typing this that I remember that she was brought up across the road in Soho, part of the close-knit Italian immigrant community who have introduced us Brits to the joys of Italian coffee as well as proper Spaghetti Bolognese and Parmesan cheese.

dim sum, gluten free, yum!

Another snack to share, this time from the far east.  There is plenty of inspiration for gluten free eaters in the whole of Asia but I have missed some of those dimsum classics made with wheat wrappers, so here is a recipe for gluten-free chinese pot sticker dumplings.  Inspired by a lovely photo taken by a fellow food blogger Matt over at Foodforfriendsyeah, I adapted the recipe for the pot stickers from a great recipe and guide by Kate at Glutenfreegobsmacked.  I was so excited by the prospect of making elastic gluten free wrappers, I didn't shop for the filling for either of the recipes above however they came out really tasty (phew!).
I suggest making this dough by hand rather than a mixer as it seems to respond well to gentle handling.  It is definitely one of those recipes that calls for many pairs of hands ( and probably a bottle of wine to share) to make them quickly.

Hope you like them!

* Apologies for the recipe being in cups, I will add the metric measurements next time I make them.

Pot sticker filling:

250g minced pork (I used belly that I minced myself)
200g raw shrimp
4 spring onions, shredded
3cm knob ginger, finely chopped
1 1/2 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped (use other half in sauce below)
2 tsp chinese rice wine vinegar (or dry sherry)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp corn starch
Blitz this all together in a food processor until it forms a paste.
Chill until the wrappers are ready to be filled.

Pot sticker wrappers:

1 cup rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup corn starch
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp psyllium husks
1/2 tsp kuzu
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup cold water

Method:

Sieve all the dry ingredients together.
In this recipe I have subsistuted the suggested gelatine in the source recipe for a 50/50 mix of kuzu and psyillium husks.  I only have gelatine in sheets so couldn't make an adequate substitution for the 1tsp required in the recipe.  Luckily the kuzu and psyllium seem to work well to make a moist and flexible wrapper that doesn't crack or dry out too quickly.
Beat the egg into the cold water.

Whilst stirring your flour, gradually pour in the water making sure the flour absorbs the water as you go.
Bring the lumps of flour together in the bowl by hand.
If the dough is too wet or sticky add more sweet rice flour, if it is too dry add water 1 tablespoon at a time.

By some fluke the liquid levels were spot on for me and the dough quickly formed a smooth and elastic mass.  I kneaded this for a couple of minutes on a work surfaced sprinkled with a little corn starch  - mostly because it is so nice to be able to knead a gluten free dough, I don't know if it was strictly necessary!

Divide the dough into 4 or 5 equal pieces.  Leave all but 1 piece in a bowl under a damp tea towel.
Dust your work surface with corn starch and roll out the small piece of dough until it is between 1/16th" & 1/8th" thick.  Using a 3-3.5 inch round cutter, cut out as many shapes as you can.  put the circles to one side under a damp cloth and carry on with each piece of dough in turn.  I found that if you collected up the trimmings and sprinkled a couple of drops of water on them, you could combine them into the next piece of dough without any problems.
Carry on until all the pot stickers are cut out.

Now take your made filling and place a teaspoon full in the middle of each wrapper.
Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the 2 sides of the wrapper together to seal the dumpling.  Now you need to niftly create 3 folds in the dough and seal each side tight together.  There is an excellent instruction on how to do this by Jen at userealbutter here with pics too, which is far better than I can provide!

Carry on making the dumplings until you have used up all your mixes.

To cook:

Boil a large pan of water (I added 1/2 tsp salt to the water).
When the water is boiling add some dumplings, enough to create a layer on the bottom of the pan.
Leave the dumplings to boil for 6 minutes, they will float to the surface as they cook but do leave them the full time as, unlikely gnocchi, the wrapper won't be cooked when they first float to the surface.
Heat some rapeseed oil in a non-stick frying pan.
Drain the potstickers and transfer them to the frying pan for a few minutes until they are lightly browned and crispy.    Whilst this batch are fyring booil the next batch, continue until all the pot stickers are cooked.
Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce and this dipping sauce  ...

Dipping sauce (for 2 people):

2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp tamari sauce (gf version of soy sauce)
1/2 clove finely chopped fresh garlic
1cm slice of finely chopped fresh ginger

You can freeze the potsticker dumplings uncooked.  If you do they will need between 12-20 minutes to boil from frozen.

I hope you like these - do let me know how you get on with the recipe and any different recipes for fillings that you may use.