Experiment: Apple Potstickers

Sorry, no measurements for this one.

wonton wrapper dough
apple
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
ground ginger
sugar
salt
butter
chopped nuts (optional)

Chop the apple into 1/4" thick cubes, mix with some cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, ginger and a tiny bit of salt. Let sit for at least 15 minutes, half an hour is better. Sprinkle your work surface with sugar and roll out 3-4" circles (or whatever) of dough. Place tablespoons of apple mixture into the middle of the circle (and some nuts if you're using them), pour some of the macerating liquid on there, fold them up, pinch them closed very firmly and squish them together a bit. Heat up a nonstick pan, preferably with a good cover, over medium-high heat and melt some butter in it. Place the potstickers seam side up into the pan. Let them sit until browned, 3-5 minutes, then add about a tbl of water per potsticker, cover and let steam until the water is absorbed and the dough is cooked. Eat hot.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know, it's kind of weird. But I was bored and didn't have a lot of stuff on hand. Plus it was wicked good. Next time I do it I'm going to make some changes though. Instead of water for steaming I'm going to use cider or apple juice. And I'm going to make a dipping sauce. I think a juice/maple syrup mix would be good or even a thinned jam. I have an idea for one that I'm going to work on and do a post about later. But it's top secret for now. Heh.

This is a pretty standard potsticker method, at least by what I've found. I had never made them before, though and the whole thing was put together on a whim. I found myself with the dough and I needed something to do with it. My girlfriend was out of town and she doesn't like potstickers, the chewy steamed dough skeeves her out. But this was just for me. I had some frozen meat, but nothing that I could get at quickly and easily. I did have an apple though. So I made these.

First, chopped apple, cinnamon, sugar, salt, nutmeg and ginger. I tossed the ginger in as a nod to the Asian method. Yeah, I've been watching Ming Tsai, it's no big deal. Heh. I didn't measure anything, but it was about a tsp of cinnamon, a tiny pinch of salt and a pinch of everything else. Then I let it macerate for about a half hour. I rolled out the dough in sugar since it's not sweet on it's own. Then I plunked about a tbl of apple mixture. Some chopped pecans are good too. Then I spooned on a bit of the maceration liquid and folded it up. You need to press the ends together quite firmly. I tried wetting the edge of the dough to help it stay together, but it didn't seem to help. So I just squeezed it hard and it worked fine. Then I kind of squished it together so it could stand seam side up. Not as pretty as the ones from a restaurant, but whatever. Now melt some butter in a nonstick pan over medium high heat. It's just got to be butter for this. Really. You want a pan that has a tight lid, preferably. But I just use tinfoil since I don't have a lid for my nonstick stirfry pan. Once it's hot I placed the potstickers into the pan and let them brown. This took about 5 minutes. Careful when you're checking them, they're slippery. Once they're browned add some liquid. I used water, but like I said next time I'm going to use juice. Or maybe wine... Anyway, I think I used about three tablespoons of water, but I'm not really sure. I'm going to make potstickers again and get more precise directions. Then I covered them till they had absorbed the water and were fully cooked. And that's it. They were wicked good, definitely something I'm going to work on since I think they can be even better.