BBQ Pork & Cabbage Pot Stickers

With all the recipe testing going on in my kitchen, my fridge is suffering the most. As bad luck begets more bad luck, The Nudge is doing a project all week at work and lunch will be ordered in, so nothing is leaving this house, and I can only eat so much........waaaah!!

Something had to give and since I did not want it to be my waistline, I took this morning off to take out all the bits and pieces of this and that to see if I could make something from all the chaos. 

The only thing I had that needed rescuing was a bag of coleslaw mix and half a rack of ribs from my pre-birthday dinner last Saturday. Not good for soup and, certainly nothing I would add to a pasta dish, I was left with one option. Pot stickers (psst; I always have wonton wrappers in my freezer).
Yum for us because they are light and flavorful, a one pot wonder and all I need to make is a 5 ingredient dipping sauce and dinner is served. Now I have time to test more recipes.

I think I better buy more wrappers.

BBQ Pork & Cabbage Dumplings
makes about 30 dumplings

* 1 cup rib or shoulder meat, minced (from 2 cups meat)
* 1 bag coleslaw mix
* 1/4 cup onion, chopped
* 1/4 cup Plum Sauce or Sweet Thai Chili Sauce or any Asian sauce you use
* 1 container apple sauce or 1/2 cup apple juice
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
* salt & pepper
* water

1. Simmer on low, the coleslaw mix, apple juice or applesauce, onion, Asian sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and a good splash of water, covered until the mixture is tender and all the moisture has cooked out, about 30 minutes.
2. Pulse pork meat in food processor until minced into pieces no larger than a baby pea.
3. Add cooked coleslaw mixture to pork meat.
4. Place two wrappers on a board and wet the edges with water. Spoon 1 tablespoon filling into the middle and starting at one corner, pull the opposite corner up to meet the other corner and press with your fingers to seal. While working down both edges, gently press to the ends to seal.
5. Place filled dumplings on a large sheet pan to dry. Can be refrigerated for one day before they should be cooked. Leftover steamed dumplings (if there are any) can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.
6. Place teaspoon vegetable oil in a non-stick skillet or wok (with a cover) and when the oil is smoking hot add dumplings, making sure that they do not touch each other (I can get 5 in mine). Fry until the bottoms are crispy brown.
7. Add 1 tablespoon water, quickly cover the pot, and steam for 1-2 minutes. It does not take long. Once their is no more water in the pan, remove the dumplings to a platter and repeat until all the dumplings are cooked.


To freeze uncooked dumplings: Lay them out on a sheet pan and freeze them individually until hard (about 2 hours) and place them carefully in a large freezer bag and store for up to one month. Any longer than that and they tend to get freezer burn. Cook them from a frozen state.

Dipping Sauce
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
* 1/4 cup rice vinegar
* 1 teaspoon garlic
* 1 teaspoon hot pepper
* minced basil or mint

Mix all ingredients at least 1 hour before serving to allow the flavors to mingle.