Friday Feast: Venison Potstickers

Potstickers, also known as Jiaozi, are Chinese dumplings filled with meat and/or vegetables, then fried in a pan of oil, crisping the flat underbelly of the dumpling and resulting in a savory pocket of absolute deliciousness. This week's Friday Feast, we bring you a treat from East Asia that gets the outdoors treatment. Heat up the pan and enjoy these delectable Venison Potstickers!

Venison Potstickers

Ingredients :

Sauce

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar or Chinese black vinegar
• 1 hot chile, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil

Filling

• 3/4 pound ground venison, duck or other meat
• 3/4 cup Chinese chives, green onions or other wild chive-like green onion
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup chicken stock (Asian if you have it) or water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil

Wrappers
Either 30-36 store-bought potsticker wrappers or:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (about 10 ounces)
• 3/4 cup hot water

Directions:
Mix all sauce ingredients and let sit at room temperature while you prepare everything else.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the filling together until well-combined. For best results, allow mixture to sit overnight.

Fill each wrapper with a small tablespoon of filling, then close each wrapper into a half-moon shape, ensuring there are no air pockets. Don't worry if some filling squirts out of the wrapper; it's normal. Use cool water on dry wrappers to help seal them.

Pleat the edges of each wrapper. As you make the pleats, settle the dumpling on your work surface so it sits flat in order to get the crispy texture while cooking. Place each finished dumpling on a baking sheet lined with parchment, semolina flour or corn meal.

To cook the potstickers, use a large, non-stick frying pan to heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, carefully lay the potstickers down in one layer. Fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until the bottoms are browned.

Add water to the pan; the water should rise about 1/4 inch. Careful here; the pan may sputter! Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 6 minutes. Afterward, position the lid to allow steam to vent. Cook for 2 more minutes then remove the lid. When the potstickers begin to sizzle, remove from pan and serve immediately.

Making the wrappers
Place flour in a large bowl and dig a well in the center. Boil water, turn off the heat and pour 3/4 cup of the water into the well. Stir the mixture with a fork, then knead with your hands until smooth and elastic. Place dough in a plastic bag and set on the counter for a minimum of 30 minutes, but not more than 2 hours. Roll the dough into a thick tube shape and cut in half, then in half again. Put the three pieces you are not using back in the plastic bag.

Roll the dough tube until it is about an inch thick. Cut it into 8 disks, and form into cylinders. If the dough is tacky, dredge it lightly in a little flour.

Open your tortilla press. Put the cylinder between two pieces of plastic or wax paper and compress it in the tortilla press. Move the circle of dough to your work surface and repeat for the 8 pieces of dough.

Use the dowel to roll out the outer edges of each circle. Keep an area about the size of a nickel at the center thick, so hold the wrapper here while you flatten the edges with the dowel while constantly rotating the wrapper.

Once you have 8 wrappers, fill them and pleat as above.

Recipe and photos from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.