My Pot Stickers

Pinterest is great. You get to cruise around and look at random stuff -- anything from crocheted Easter baskets to travel outfits.

Leave it to me to always head to recipes.

I started seeing recipes for vegetarian pot stickers. Only thing is they never seemed to have the ingredients I wanted. When I came across a recipe by the fabulous Mark Bittman of The New York Times, I knew I'd found my base recipe.

From his great beginnings came this recipe I use his method of cooking them, which is ridiculously smart, but the ingredients are mostly my idea (his were filled with pork).

My Vegetarian Pot Stickers

1/2 shredded carrot
1 c. shredded cabbage or bok choy (then mince it after you shred it -- think small enough to fit in a wonton wrapper)
1/4 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein, also known as textured soy protein -- you could even use ground soy crumbles)
1/4 cup water chestnuts, finely chopped
2 Tbl. minced fresh ginger
1 Tbl soy sauce (more or less to taste)

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

Wonton wrappers (I like mine smaller than the average pot sticker)
2 Tbls. peanut oil for frying

Optional: 1 egg, beaten (to help with sealing the wrappers -- otherwise, just use water to keep it vegan)

Combine all but the wrappers and frying oil in a large bowl. If it's a bit wet, add more TVP to soak up the juices.

On a dry surface (I use my Silpat for this), lay out your wonton wrappers, one or two at a time (keeps things neater and easier to manage). Using your finger, rub the egg around all edges of the wrapper.

Place a teaspoon of the mixture onto the center of your wrapper. fold over and pinch or press closed. (Mine resemble triangles -- you can close them however you like.)

Heat the peanut oil to medium-high. Once heated, add wrappers carefully. Keep in one layer. Cook 2 minutes until bottoms are lightly browned.

Here's where it gets interesting: add 1/4 cup of water per dozen wrappers right into the pan. Cover. Lower heat to medium and simmer 3 minutes.

Remove to paper towels on a plate.

Make a sauce. Here's what I used:

1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 Tbl. soy sauce
dash of sesame oil

Mix.

The Thing To Do With Seitan

Sometimes, you just want seitan.

It's a cold night here in the east, so I wanted to make seitan.

I don't know about you, but sometimes a good seitan recipe is tough to come by.

Thankfully, Pinterest offered plenty of options. I found this one, but it wasn't exactly as I'd like it, so I added a few ingredients, subtracted others and -- finally -- had a great baked seitan recipe.

My Seitan Recipe

the dry stuff:
2 c. wheat gluten
2 Tbl. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. nutritional yeast
1 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. smoked picante paprika (I got it at Williams-Sonoma)
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. black pepper
the wet stuff:
1 1/2 c. cold water
1/2 c. tamari or soy sauce
2 Tbl. tomato paste
1 Tbl. olive oil

Mix the dry stuff in a large bowl. Mix together the wet stuff and pour it into the dry stuff, stirring as you go. Using your hands, knead it in the bowl for about 3 minutes. I like mine wet, and these ingredients make it about the right consistency for me. If you want it drier, add some extra gluten. Wetter, add water. Let it sit while the oven heats. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Once the oven is heated, spread foil on a baking sheet. Line the foil with parchment. Shape your seitan into a loaf (I made mine short and wide), then roll it up, pinching the ends of the foil.

Bake for 60 minutes. As noted in the original recipe, turn it every 15 minutes to make sure it bakes uniformly.


So, I made the steak. Now what?

This is what -- I fried it in a sauté pan (with a white wine sauce, of course), and served it with wheat berries and fresh beets.


Seitan White Wine Sauce

This will make the sauce that you'll cook the seitan in.

1/2 cup white wine (dry stuff, nothing fruity)
1 Tbl. olive oil
Vegetable broth (about 1/2 a cup -- don't add it at once)

Spices to taste (I had no fresh on hand. so these are all dried):

• Smoked paprika (I used about 1/2 tsp)
• Thyme  (maybe 1/4 tsp more or less)
• Rosemary  (as much as you like)
• Parsley    (1/4 tsp more or less)
• Black pepper  (to taste)

Corn starch to thicken (mix about a tsp. in water and use sparingly)

In a saute pan, add olive oil. Heat on medium for about 30 seconds, then slowly add the wine. Place your seitan slices in the pan, then add the spices on top (I flip them so they get mixed into the liquid -- you could add them directly, then put in the seitan).

Cook until seitan is hot through, adding a little vegetable broth as needed. Remove seitan. Add more liquid if you like, then add a little bit of your mixed corn starch. I used maybe 1/2 tsp. as I didn't have a ton of liquid.