Gluten Free Potstickers

I'm teaching a gluten free cooking class for a few weekends, and found out that the oven at the church where I'm teaching is just not very reliable. You have to turn it on an hour or two in advance of cooking, and then crank it all the way up to get it warm. The temperature gauge is not reliable, and when I taught a class on how to make gluten free flatbread, the bread came out al dente, which is not how it is supposed to be. So I was researching recipes that don't use an oven and came across Gluten Free Gobsmacked's (Kate Chan) recipe for potstickers. You can find it here.

I made a test batch tonight, and they were yummy! I made changes to her recipe, though, because of the ingredients I had on hand. For the dough I followed her recipe exactly, and it turned out great. She says she uses the same dough for egg rolls, and I think it would work very well for ravioli, too. It rolls out easily (between sheets of parchment paper or cut-open large ziploc bags) and handles well. A few of the potstickers cracked a little when I filled them, but they held together when they were boiled and nothing leaked out. They also held together when I crisped them in the pan, and the crunchy dough was delicious!!

Her filling recipe calls for chicken thighs, which I didn't have at home. I had a package of thin-cut pork loin chops, so I used that. I also had some baby bok choy that looked lovely and fresh at the store this week, so I used that instead of onion. I chopped it up and sauteed it very quickly, for about 2 minutes, over high heat in some olive oil before adding it to the recipe. Finally, instead of parsley I used cilantro. I am growing both in my garden this year, but had already cut some cilantro for another recipe and needed to use it up. I found it helped to mix the "meat paste" by hand to really incorporate all of the ingredients.

When all was done, the recipe made 24 potstickers. I think I could have gotten a few more out of the recipe if I had rolled the dough a little thinner than the 1/8 inch that the recipe calls for. I think it would have held together okay. Based on my calculations, each potsticker was about 12 carbs.

As I was making the potstickers, I thought how Daniel hasn't had them since he was diagnosed, about 3 years ago. Slowly, slowly we are finding ways to make all his favorite dishes. This was a labor intensive dish, though. I think that the next time I make these I will split up the work -- make the "meat paste" the day before and put it away, so that there is less cleaning up of the cuisinart between steps. I will also make a really huge batch and freeze them, the way I have done with ravioli, so I don't have to do it so often! I think it would also help to cook/clean with a partner on this one!

It was good work tonight, though. It took my mind off the things that worry me. My mom had to go to the hospital today. All good thoughts and prayers are appreciated. And in the meantime, I'm taking some butter out of the freezer to make more gluten free cookies. I can just keep on cooking until the phone rings...