Tofu & Veggie Pot Stickers

Far out! Shut the back door and hold the phone, because this is SUCH A GOOD RECIPE!! Not saying it's the best vegan and gluten dumpling recipe on the internet, but it sure must be close. The wrapper is gluten free yet definitely not to it's detriment. You can't really tell when you're devouring them and plus for the chef - it's far from a traumatic experience handling the dough. Quite the contrary, it's almost therapeutic! Enjoy this one HB's x

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 garlic clove, peeled & crushed
• 1 small knob of ginger, peeled
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 bunch spring onions, top and tailed
• 8 button mushrooms, halved
• 1 very large handful wombok cabbage (or any cabbage)
• 150g firm tofu, drained & patted dry with paper towel
• glug of grapeseed oil
• small handful coriander/cilantro finely chopped
• 2 tsp tamari (or soy sauce if not GF)
• 1 tsp coconut aminos (also called liquid aminos)
• handful dried mushrooms (any variety is fine)
• 1 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
• pepper
  Dough
• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 3/4 cup tapioca starch/flour
• 3/4 cup glutinous rice flour
• 1 tsp xanthum gum
• pinch salt
• 1 cup warm water

Method

1. Make your filling, by first blitzing ingredients in stages in the food processor. Do the garlic, ginger, carrot and spring onions together until quite finely chopped but still with a little texture. Then add to a large fry-pan or pot. Blitz the mushrooms and cabbage together. These will cook/shrink down so don't blitz these as finely. Add to the pot and also crumble in the tofu. Add the oil and pop on medium heat. Sauté until everything is relatively soft & reduced in volume.
2. Boil your kettle and pop your dried mushrooms into a small boil. Pour over about 2 tbsp of hot water, then bop the mushrooms below the surface and leave to steep for a few minutes.
3. Once the veg mixture is looking hella tasty, add the coriander, tamari, coconut aminos and a grind of pepper. Fish out the dried mushrooms from their broth, then add the cornflour to the fragrant liquid. Whisk to combine. Pour this mixture into the veggie tofu pot and stir to combine. Let cook for a minute or so more to slightly thicken and come together, then take off the heat and set aside.
4. Make the dough by pouring the flours, xanthum gum and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the center and add about half the warm water. Use a fork to bring the mixture together. Add the remaining hot water and mix again. Switch to using your hands once the fork isn't much help no longer and bring into a smooth dough. Knead for a few minutes, adding a smidge more flour or hot water if required.
5. Grab a damp tea towel (or two), a rolling pin, your filling, a tray to put the finished dumplings on, something round to cut out the dough with and a small bowl with some water in it which you'll use to seal the little buggers. Roll out the dough and mold the dumplings like I did in the video linked below. Or in a similar fashion, you do you. Just remember to cover up any dough or dumplings that you're not working with or that are complete, with a damp tea towel so nothing dries out and cracks. There will be some filling left over which you can use as a chefs-snack after all your hard assembling work.
6. Cook your dumplings either in a steamer for about 8 minutes, or turn them into pot stickers (recommended, but you do you) by grabbing a good nonstick pot or pan and adding a generous glug of grapeseed (or vegetable) oil to it. Once hot, add in some pot stickers (you'll likely have to do a couple of batches) and cook until the under side is nice and golden. With the pot/pan's lid ready (or a tray if the vessel you're using doesn't have one) add 1/4 cup of hot water to the pan and then immediately cover with the lid. It will splatter so be careful and work quickly. Cook for about 8 minutes on medium heat, then remove the lid and let the last bit of water evaporate. Set the dumplings aside on a plate and repeat the cooking process to cook all the dumplings. Serve with tamari or coconut aminos or what ever you like. Deeelish!!!