I stuffed about 60 pot-sticker-type dumpling things under very close supervision.
Note- Bear the dog does not know the difference between tofu and chicken. I'm not totally sure how that one passed him by. They taste *nothing* alike. Of course, tofu takes much more chewing.
So I made the potstickers and filled them with the same "pork" stuffing as last time, though the recipe wasn't right- I didn't bring the book, and didn't feel like looking it up, so I kinda winged it. Didn't work out quite right, since the gluten formed into kinda gristly chunks that wrapped around the tofu/ TVP. Great for authenticity, not so much for appetizing-ness.
Once they were all formed, I pulled out my mother's largest non-stick pan, which I suspect is more often used for cooking of meaty food. Like bacon. But not yesterday. Yesterday I put some oil in the bottom with about 1/3 of the potstickers, and got them a bit of frying. Once they were crispy on at least to areas I dumped in 1/3C water and covered the pan to let them steam. Rinse and repeat.
If I do this again, I think I'll fry them all first, then steam them all. Fry then steam kept them from sticking together too much, but adding the water to an oiled pan risked a big oil-spatter mess/ burn.
I ate them all, using 1:1 soy sauce/ water for dipping "sauce". The ones I didn't dip were kinda dry. Oops.
Bear the dog approved, BTW- enough that he not only let me try to clean his ear, but also trim the fur between his pads. It's amazing what that dog will do for even the possibility of food.
Right, so that was yesterday. Off to trick the dog into eating his own food instead of begging mine.
Vegan gristle - that has a certain awesomeness to it.
ReplyDeleteHave you considered par-boiling the pot stickers and than pan frying them? It might keep them from getting too dry, and the par-boiling might prevent the gristle via a uniform cooking environment.
Do we get doggie pix this time? He's so cute!
ReplyDeleteI'll see what I can get him to do. He's not feeling co-operative today.
ReplyDeleteKim- parboiling brings back the hugely sticky problem. I think it's the way that I added the gluten that's the problem, actually. I suspect that adding it to the (very full) bowl last made it clump, creating the "gristle" problem.
Actually gives me an idea for a bacon sub... I'll have to track down some hickory salt, tapioca starch, and maybe a bit of that liquid smoke stuff....