Veggie Potstickers

We are in cleaning out the fridge for vaca mode and I was at a loss as to what to make for dinner last night. Browsing Pinterest I came upon baked veggie wontons, but the picture didn't link to a site. Don't you hate that!!

I remember how much my 7 yr old loved the potstickers that we had at a family friends house one time - made from scratch. I decided to see if I could trick him with a veggie potsticker.

Forgive the crappy cell phone pics -

These were super simple to make once you got the hang of sealing them up - I got into a rhythym and it went quickly! You can fill these with whatever you want. I found it worked better not to boil them (first couple I tried to boil them pan fry and fell apart), so if you are using meat and don't boil them, you probably want to cook the meat prior to filling. 

I diced up veggies super fine - baby bella mushrooms, green cabbage, white onion, and carrots, and sauteed the veggies up with some ginger and garlic. Seasoned liberally with salt.

Then I diced up some tofu and cooked it up after taking the veggies out of the pan, added a couple sliced green onions and a couple splashes of Kikkoman Takumi Teriyaki.

Veggie Filling

Then I put a heaping scoop in the middle of a won ton wrapper. I was looking for the circle dumpling wrappers but they didn't have them at Hy-Vee. I wasn't sure if the texture or anything was different, or are they the same thing?

I put a fair amount of filling in these, the way I folded and cooked them you don't have to be as careful about sealing them up perfectly

Folded them into little packets - wet the edges with water (finger dipped in a little water bowl) and bring four corners to the center, squishing seams together with fingers. Since we are not boiling these you don't have to worry about getting all the air out or having a super tight seal.

I cooked these five at a time in a small saute pan with a little bit of coconut oil. I had to get the technique just right so I didn't splatter oil everywhere. I would take the pan off the stove, put in five potstickers, use a spoon to put in a little oil, and then use a spoon to add a couple tsp of water to the pan, put back on the stove and put a lid on right away. The heat was just under medium heat. After I sealed up 3 more potstickers, I would flip the ones in the pan, and after I made 2 more, they first batch would be done. Repeat, cooking 5 while you make 5.

Excuse the couple burned ones, it took a batch to get the heat and the timing right!

These were so good, served with a side of low sodium soy sauce. The kids shoveled them in. I made 30 and only ate a few - my 7 yr old ate at least 10 himself! I calculated the nutrition stats to be about 50 calories per potsticker, but depends on how liberal you are with the oil.

Veggie Potstickers

1/2 container baby bella mushrooms
1 cup green cabbage
1/3 white onion
2 carrots
2 cloves garlic
finely dice veggies
1/2 inch ginger, grated
1/3 block extra firm tofu, finely cubed
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp Kikkoman Takumi teriyaki sauce
5 tbsp coconut oil
30 won ton wrappers

Saute veggies and ginger in a little coconut oil until soft, salt to taste, remove from pan
Add some more oil and throw in tofu - once it starts to brown a little add teriyaki and green onions, toss for a minute, then add tofu to veggies, stir to combine

Put a tbsp or so of filling in the middle of won ton wrapper, wet each edge with your finger dipped in water. Bring all four corners to the middle and seal edges.

Make 5 potstickers - then add to pan with a little oil and a couple tsp of water - heat may be variable depending on the pan/range, but I found my sweet spot to be just under medium heat. Put a lid on the pan to steam/fry the potstickers and continue making the next batch. I found that I could make 3 potstickers in the time it took to cook one side, so I would flip them, put the lid back on and make two more.

Remove pot stickers, add five more, a little oil, a little water, lid on, repeat. I minimized oil splash by removing the pan from the stovetop, adding the uncooked potstickers, then the water, then the oil - then quickly putting back on stovetop and putting the lid on.

Enjoy!