Dim Sum for dinner...Bison and Bleu Cheese Potstickers

Call it Fusion, East meets West, Eclectic, whatever you will, I love it all. I like mixing things up, and adding my own twist as well.

We've been VERY busy at the shop lately, and going into 3 straight 7-day weeks was not too attractive. I took a half day off today to hopefully regroup...cooking is usually therapy, and as the lunch at the office today was pizza, I figured something light was in order...that thought lasted only as long as it took to get to the market.

I've been dying to use my new dumpling press, so why not tonight?

I found a 1lb. package of ground bison and it touched me somehow, it seemed so...lonely. It needed a home, care, it needed ME. I adopted it. A few sundry items later, and it was on its way to a bright new future.

I thought this dish up on the way to the register, and on the way home. The result -- well, I'm happy! Savory, smoky, sweet, spicy and rich...theme and variation, I love this experiment! I employed two cheats - I used packaged skins, and employed a dumpling press (for the purists, I am appending a dough recipe as well, and I'll use it next time).

Potstickers use a combination of two traditional cooking techniques, pan frying and steaming, to arrive at their classic browned-on-the-bottom look. I have finished my version with a Westernized take on the classic vinegar dipping sauce.

THE RECIPE:

1/2lb. ground bison meat
1/4 small onion, minced
2 in. ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, grated
Corn / peanut oil for sauteeing
8 leaves basil, finely chopped
1 bunch scallion ends, chopped into pea-sized pieces (this is where you can tell the difference between a Western and an Eastern recipe - we always use the green and perhaps include the white ends, and Eastern recipes use the white part, and occasionally include the greens. But I digress).

1/2t smoked paprika www.myspicesage.com
1/4t cayenne powder
1/4t five fragrance powder (5 spice)
1T Shaoxing cooking wine
Dash soy sauce
Sea salt and ground white pepper to taste
2 oz. bleu cheese crumbles
Gyoza / potsticker skins

1 glass wine (Chef's choice)

2oz. water for sealing dumpling skins

2T peanut / corn oil for frying
1/4 cup water


Heat a non-stick skillet, add oil and sautee onion, ginger and garlic until translucent. Add and brown bison; add spices, basil, wine and soy. Combine and remove from heat. Cool to just above room temperature.

Place a scant teaspoon in the center of a gyoza skin; top with a few cheese crumbles. Dip the tip of your finger into the water, and run along the edge of one half of the skin. Press edges together with your fingers or a dumpling press. Press down to form a flat bottom to the dumpling. Continue to fill skins, and sip on the glass of wine. (This recipe yielded 20 pieces, less the filling I was snacking on.) Sip liberally from the wine and refill as needed.

Heat a wide, shallow skillet over medium heat; add frying oil. Place the potstickers in the oil and fry until the bottoms of the dumplings are browned (approximately 5 minutes). Add water, cover, and steam for approximately 2 minutes more.

I figured with such a complex little dumpling, I would want a neutral bed of vegetables, so here we have

Wok-seared baby bok choy:

3-4 bunches baby bok choy, cross-cut into 1 inch slices
Peanut or corn oil
12 leaves basil, thinly sliced
1/4 onion, thin half slices
Dash sesame oil
1 oz. dry sherry

Heat a wok over high flame; add oil, and sear the bok choy stem pieces. Sear one side, flip, then add bok choy leaf ends, basil leaves, onion, sesame oil and sherry. Flip over high heat to combine and remove from heat.

Of course, we will need a dipping sauce for the guys:

2T champagne vinegar
1T Chinkiang dark vinegar
1T ponzu sauce
1/8th t ginger powder
snipped scallion greens

Combine above ingredients in a serving bowl.

Arrange bok choy on a plate; set potstickers on this and serve the dipping sauce on the side. This worked out well! FLIGHT - epic win on flavor, presentation. FLUB - I cheated on the skins. For those who want to do these from scratch, see below.

POTSTICKER DOUGH:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
Mix the flour with water and knead it for about 20-25 minutes or until the dough gets soft. Separate the dough into two equal portions and roll them into cylinders (about 1 inch in diameter). Cover with wet towel and set aside. To prepare the skin, cut the dough into 1/4 in. length and use a rolling pin to flatten it until it becomes a round skin about 3 inch in diameter.
Give these a shot - let me know what you think!

Until next time,
CEM