Dumpling, pot sticker, gyoza, jiaozi, dim sum…..

Truthfully, I’m not really sure how to differentiate between these wonderful little packages of bliss.

I would love to waltz into a dim sum restaurant and cozy up to a server to get the lowdown, but due to my gluten allergy, I can’t.

So while I can’t really educate you on all things dumpling, I can offer you a gluten free recipe that tastes yummy, even if it is something of a crossbred mutt.

We will call it……dumpstickgoyadim for now.

I did find some gluten free dumpling recipes online, but to be honest, I didn’t care for them. The dough ended up cracking and turning into something of a mini pie crust, rather than a tender, chewy little dumpling. (This might also have to do with the fact that I didn’t keep my dough moist…)

So I found a different dough recipe that wasn’t actually classified as a gluten free recipe, but because it only contained rice flour and tapioca flour it WAS gluten free, and after having made it….I decided it was the best way to go for me.

Asian pot sticker recipe

Makes 24-28 dumplings (depending on size)

Dough

(thanks to Andrea Nguyen for her brilliant rice dough recipe)
1 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp oil
2/3 cup boiled water (adjust if necessary)

Filling

15 medium raw shrimp-deveined and chopped
1/4 lb ground pork
¼ cup mushrooms-chopped
2 green onions-diced
1 tsp fresh ginger-grated
1 clove garlic-minced
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp GF soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
Fresh ground pepper

Dipping Sauce

2 Tbsp GF soy sauce
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1/4 Tbsp rice vinegar
¼ tsp sesame oil
Few drops sriracha (optional)

Other tools:
Ziplock bag
Tortilla press-optional
Dumpling press-optional

Start by peeling and deveining your shrimp. Chop them, along with your mushrooms and green onion. Grate your ginger finely and then mince your garlic. Add everything into a bowl then add your soy sauce, ground pork, sesame oil, salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Mix all ingredients and place in fridge.

Next, start your dough by adding your rice flour, tapioca flour and salt into bowl. Pour in your oil. Add in your just-boiled water and start to mix with a chopstick. After water cools down a bit, start to knead the dough until it has a play-dough consistency.

Now your dough is ready to be divided. Roll it out into a foot long rope (lightly dust the counter with rice flour) and cut in half. Place half your dough directly into a ziplock bag to keep moist. With the remaining dough, cut into 12 pieces. Place the pieces into the bag except a few that you are working with to keep everything moist. Repeat with remaining dough.

Now you are ready to start pressing your dough into the dumpling wrappers. This can be done quickly and easily with a tortilla press.

Cut a ziplock bag in half. Open your tortilla press and place half of the ziplock bag on the base. Lightly dust this with rice flour. Add one of your dough discs and cover with the other half of the ziplock bag. Close your tortilla press. When you open it, handle your wrapper carefully, as it is very delicate.

Now you are ready to fill the wrapper with your meat. This is done very easily with a dumpling press.

Place the wrapper in your hand, and fill with a small ball of filling. Around 1/2-1 tsp. Place your wrapper in a dumpling press and gently press closed. Easy!

–if you don’t have a tortilla press

you can press it out by hand the old-fashioned way. Take one of your dough discs and flatten it by hand. Cut a ziplock bag in half. Lightly flour half of the zipock bag and place your flattened dough disc on it. Cover with the other half of the ziplock bag and roll out with a rolling-pin. Gently take your wrapper and place your filling in it. Lightly wet the edge of the wrapper and close in half. Pinch shut, and work your way around the rest of the dumpling to close.

Place your pot stickers on a clean surface as you are preparing them.

Once you have filled your wrappers, you are ready to cook. Heat your oil in a large saucepan. Add in your pot stickers. Let them brown for a few minutes. Add in 1/4 cup of water and cover with tight-fitting lid. Let the pot stickers steam for 6-8 minutes. You may have to cook them in two batches.

Once your pot stickers are done, then you can plate them. Mix your dipping sauce and enjoy!

There are some other amazing dumpling recipes online with some pretty awesome instructional photos…so here are some blogs to visit when you get the hankerin….

1. userealbutter-Chinese dumplings and pot stickers
2. lafujimama-steamy shrimp pork dumplings
3. asiandumplingtips

Happy dumpling eating!!!