Vegetarian Potstickers with Cilantro Sweet/Sour/Spicy Dipping Sauce

I always see veggies spring rolls but rarely see vegetarian Pot sticker on menu of any Asian restaurants.  They usually are chicken with veggies pot stickers, so I never tried them  before, until...I  went to Vieng's Asian Bistro in one of the main shopping center here. They had veggies pot stickers. I tried them and loved them and was determined to make at home.  It just so happened that I had made Veggie Hakka Noodle Stir fry for a party and I had some leftover noodles.

I thought why not use these noodles with some veggies and try the veggie pot stickers. I did not have won ton wrappers so I went to the store and pick up these along with rice paper.
Thought I will make half pot stickers and half spring rolls with rice paper.
I am going to post the recipe for spring rolls next as you pretty much use the same filling and same dipping sauce.
Here is the recipe for Vegetarian pot stickers and dipping sauce.

Ingredients for Veggies Pot Stickers: 

• 4 cups stir fry Hakka noodles with stirfried veggies (recipe in this blog: here is the link for it: http://surekha-myrecipescollection.blogspot.com/2010/09/vegetable-hakka-noodles.html

• About 12 additional Portobello mushrooms 
• One Bunch of green Onions
• 1/2 head of cabbage finely chopped and stir fried

• One 12 oz pack of mixed fresh broccoli slaw strips, chopped purple cabbage and julienne carrots mix (in produce section)
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 2 table spoon of sesame or olive oil
• 2 table spoon of sesame seeds
• One l  small bunch  of Cilantro finely chopped, 
• 1 pack of Won ton wraps (have about 48-50 small squares in a 12 oz pack)

Method:

• Finely Chop mushrooms, green onions with greens and garlic.
• Heat oil in a pan.
• When oil is hot, add sesame seeds and roast until light brown, add onion, mushroom and garlic.
• Saute for about a min.
• Add fresh Broccoli slaw strips, chopped purple cabbage and julienne carrot mix.
• Saute for few seconds and add stir fried cabbage.

• Add salt and cook for 1-2 min don't want to make it too tender. 
• Then add the cooked noodle and chopped cilantro. 
• Mix well and set aside.

Prepare the dipping sauces as follows:

Ingredients for Dipping sauce:

• 1-2" Fresh ginger peeled and finely cut in to strips and cubes (I did not have fresh ginger so used 1/2 teaspoon of ginger paste (it is very strong)
• I also used fresh turmeric root chopped and cut in to strip and small cubes ( this is optional)
• 1 cloves of garlic
• 1 Serrano pepper finely chopped
•  2-3 finely chopped green onions with greens
• 1 small bunch of Cilantro finely chopped 

• 1-2 pods of dried California Anaheim pepper pods 
• 1/4 cup  cup of sesame seeds
• 2 tables spoon of sesames oil (I used olive oil) 
• 2 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce
• 4 table spoon of rice vinegar
• 1 cup of Karo syrup (I had brown sugar Karo syrup, but you can use regular Karo syrup or Agave syrup or even regular brown sugar.
• Dried red chili pepper flakes (to taste)
• Pinch of Sriracha powder seasoning (or to taste)

• 1/4 cup of water
• Salt to taste (won't need too much)

 

Method to make Dipping sauce:

• Roast the sesame seeds in a pan, when nice and brown, emitting toasty flavor add oil. 
• Let it heat a little on stove then add green onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric root and chopped peppers.
• Saute for 30-40 sec and add cilantro.
• Add soy sauce, vinegar, Karo syrup and water.
• Mix well and bring it boil on low-medium heat.
•  Turn the heat off and let it cool.

Method to fill and prepare Pot Sticker Dumplings:

• Open the Won ton wraps and keep them covered with wet paper towel so don't become dry.
• Keep your noodle and veggie filling ready with a cup of water  and another plate with damp paper towels to place the dumplings before cooking.
• On a cookie sheet place the won ton wrap and wet the edges with water.
• Place the filling in the middle of wrap.

• Bring all four corner of square together and stick the edges together making a pouch as shown in picture.
• Try this individually first, then you will quickly find out that it is a process that requires lot of patience,
• I line the squares on the cookies sheets and wet all of their edges and placing the filling on all of them and then folding them all together, it was a little quicker this way.

• Place all the dumpling either separated  parchment paper and cover them with wet paper until ready to cook.

Method to cook the Pot Stickers:

• I did not want to take a chance to boil this little pouches, was afraid that they were going to open up so cooked them straight on griddle.
• Spray the flat griddle with vegetable oil spray and place the pot sticker on this griddle on medium to low heat,
• When one side is light brown and skin is transparent, flip and cook on other sides same way to desired brownness or crispiness.
• Repeat the process until all are cooked. 

Serve with dipping sauce, I also served Mango Chili sauce with this.

This recipes yield about  48-50 pot stickers, you may have some filling left, which I used to make the spring roll with rice paper, recipe to follow next.

I love a thing about these pot stickers and spring rolls is that you can add or omit and fresh veggies that you have or don't have or like or  don't like.
I filled them with noodles to make them more hearty and so these can be served as light lunch or as an appetizer.

Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.