Gingery Gluten-Free Pot Stickers

In honor of Chinese New Year, I thought I’d share a favorite recipe from my book, The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen. If you’re gluten free, you know how hard it is to find gluten-free pot stickers. Almost impossible, actually. So if you want pot stickers, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and head to the kitchen.

Making dumplings of any kind is a process: dough, filling, assembly, cooking. The recipe may look challenging, but that’s only because I’ve explained the steps in detail. It is a time consuming process, to be sure, but it’s not difficult. Once you’ve made them, you’ll understand the steps and power through the recipe faster the next time around. These pot stickers actually freeze beautifully, so I tend to make quite a few and then pull a dozen or so out of the freezer and cook them as needed.

One ingredient note: the recipe calls for sweet rice flour, not regular rice flour. Sweet rice flour is ground from grains of sticky/sweet rice. I like Koda Farms Mochiko Blue Star brand, but there are other brands available, including Bob’s Red Mill and Erawan. Sweet rice lends a chewy resilience to the dough. Regular rice flour has completely different properties and will not yield the same results.

The gluten-free pot stickers will make a fantastic starting point for a Chinese New Year feast. For more ideas for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai gluten-free recipes be sure to check out The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen. Cheers! ~LbR

Recipe: Gingery Gluten-Free Pot Stickers

Makes : 28 dumplings | Appetizers/Snacks Print

Many types of Asian dumpling wrappers are actually based on naturally gluten-free flours, such as rice or tapioca, but the pot sticker remains a wheat dough through and through. I think you'll be pleased with this gluten-free version from The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen. I like pot stickers best hot out of the pan, but you can freeze some before cooking if you don't plan to finish them all in one meal.

Ingredients

1/2 cup tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour)
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour, plus more for rolling dough
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons cold water
3/4 pound ground pork
3 green onions, white and green parts, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons gluten-free soy sauce or tamari
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

Instructions

To make the dough, stir together the tapioca, millet flour, sweet rice flour, xanthan gum, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Add the just-boiled water and stir with a fork to combine. Add the cold water and mix well until a dough starts to form. Use your hands to knead the dough together a few times--you can do this right in the bowl--and then form the dough into two balls. Transfer the dough to a large resealable bag until ready to use, up to several hours.
In a second bowl, combine the raw pork, green onions, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Mix well to combine.
To form the dumplings, dust your hands, the counter, and a baking sheet with sweet rice flour. Roll one piece of the dough into a long rope, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into 14 pieces and put them back into the resealable bag. Repeat with the other ball of dough for a total of 28 pieces. The dough will dry out quickly; make sure it stays covered.
Keep plenty of sweet rice flour nearby (up to 1/2 cup) for dusting the counter and the rolling pin to prevent the dough from sticking. Working with one piece of dough at a time, flatten the dough into a circle with the heel of your hand. Using a small rolling pin--a small dowel works best--roll the dough into a 3- to 31/2-inch circle, turning the dough periodically to prevent sticking. (Alternately, put the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap and roll it into a circle.) Transfer the dumpling wrappers to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. (If you run out of space on the baking sheet, make a second layer separated by plastic wrap.)
Dust a dinner plate with sweet rice flour. Spoon a scant tablespoon of filling into the center of each wrapper. Dip two fingers in a small bowl of water and run them around half the circumference of each circle. (This is so the wet side can stick to the dry side.) Life the sides, forming a half-moon shape around the filling; keep the bottom flat against your hand or the counter. Pinch the dough together at the top and then form two or three pleats along each side; press to seal. (Alternatively, if you have a dumpling press, use it to form and seal the dumpling.) Transfer the dumplings to the prepared plate. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook, up to 4 hours ahead.
In a large nonstick frying pan, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil over medium-high heat. Add half the dumplings to the pan and cook until browned on the bottom, 2 to 3 minutes. Holding the pan lid in one hand (to control splattering), add 1/3 cup water to the pan and immediately cover it. Lower the heat to low and steam the dumplings until cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the lid and raise the heat to medium. Cook until the water evaporates and the bottoms of the dumplings are well browned, about 2 minutes longer. Repeat with the remaining dumplings and oil. Serve hot with a dipping sauce or a bowl of gluten-free soy sauce.
NOTE: If you do not plan on eating the dumplings all at once (reheating them is fine, not great), freeze some of the uncooked dumplings for later. Freeze the dumplings on a plate or tray before transferring them to a freezer bag to keep them from sticking together. Add the dumplings to the pan straight from the freezer and increase the steaming time by 2 minutes.