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Potstickers


Wolfie

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Well I'm glad you all like them! Yep, the hard part is stuffing the wrappers! The hard part is also wondering if we should just eat the leftovers or do what Martin Yan does. He puts everything - and I mean everything - in zip lock plastic bags in the fridge and in the freezer. But I have a new way now of freezing my leftovers. I buy those new zip lock bags that you can seal with those little plunger things they provide! They are fantabulous! Just put things in the bag, seal the bag, then using the little plunger on the special circle on the bag you can get all of the air out of the bag. And pop them in the freezer! Great when you don't want to get the big sealer out of the cupboard.

Anyway he also recommends that you put the unopened bags of wrappers in plastic bags in the freezer as well as your leftovers. He also chops a lot of veggies and puts them into plastic bags in the refrigerator, then when you want to stir fry you just take out what you want. I have done that! And when the bag was about 3/4 full I fluffed all the things together in the bag and zipped it shut, It does keep things nice and fresh, and you can then do up 3 or 4 stir fry bags and have them on hand.

We are having lemon chicken later on today. I've already made the sauce for it, and all I have to do is warm up the jasmine rice, fry the chcken breast, cut it and pour the sauce over it and garnish with some pretty carved lemon slices and a green onion brush and serve! Yum!

Doug bought the dummy book used - and it's in mint condition from Amazon.com for $2.63 plus shipping.. He bought the Joy of Wokking for one cent and $2.50 shipping. You can't beat that! It was a 12.00 book to start with, and the dummy book retails at $25.00 I believe. All of the used books are in mint condition. He also bought the Quick and Easy book for $2.50 plus shipping as well. And they are like new.

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Wolfie I am cheap. I just seal the freezer bag and place a straw in the remaining unclosed corner of the bad and suck out all the air. LOL works great. I freeze everything too.

We bought about $150 in meat and chicken yeaterday from Sam's. so I am cleaning out the freezer today. I made vegetable soup from the leftover hambone and what was left of my frozen vegetables and it is a good use for the fresh carrots and taters that are sprouting eyes.

Now all I have to do is package everything up and freeze. I'll use my handy dandy straw too.

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We LOVE Chinese foods, but cannot eat them here at the resteraunts... Either it is way out of our budget.. or we end up getting sick after eating it.!!

My neighbor when I was growing up was Chinese and owned a resteraunt a few miles from the house... Her parents got ill a few years agoa dn shut the resteraunt down.. We loved thier egg rolls... and Lo mein.!!

I would LOVE to know how to make chinese foods.. I dont have any of the spices... I will have to make me a list of the spices and pick them up little by little when I go to the store...

and will have to run to the library to see if they have this book.!!!

Kellee

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Too funny. Hubby had asked for potstickers for a meal this week. Of course, he doesn't want the frozen ones, I made the mistake of making them from scratch once. Told him it had to be on a weekend, so that's what I'm doing in a little bit. Got the fillings and dipping sauces made, a scallop based one and a shrimp based one, and the dough is resting, soon will be time to start rolling, filling, and pleating. Think I'll make him help roll the dough out, he's all thumbs when it comes to the pleating or rolling sushi (we have to make that at home too), fingers/hands too big. The fillings and dipping sauces are new recipes for us, trying to clean out the freezer, had 3 huge diver scallops and a few shrimp left in the bag.

The scallops have corn, red bell pepper, green onion and a touch of cilantro for the filling. The shrimp have green onions, oyster sauce, sesame oil, grated carrot, and ginger. Both sound pretty good. Guess we'll see in a bit.

I used Ming Tsai's dough recipe. He's got a pretty good pork filling too in his Blue Ginger cookbook. Has a recipe for some pretty good steamed dumplings too, but hubby doesn't like the dough for that, too much dough, not enough filling and I can't seem to get the right ratio for him with enough dough so filling doesn't break thru, so we just use the filling (chicken and mushie mixture) and make pot stickers which he likes better anyway.

Karen

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Kelly I find Chinese food pretty easy. I try and keep 5 spice powder, sesame oil, fish sauce, chili sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, wasabe, scallions, ground pork, chicken thighs, ginger , garlic and the like on hand.

5 spice powder is great on taters. Especially of I grill them. I love the stuff.

I have a great recipe for yakatori chicken. I may have spelled that wrong.

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Kelly, If you have an Asian market in your area..get the supplies there. Much cheaper then buying in the grocery store. I can buy a large bottle of rice wine vinegar for $1.25. Much more at regular store.

Start off with the basics. Soy Sauce, red pepper paste, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and some ginger. Either the real thing or powdered. Then you can add more to your spices as you go along.

Chinese cooking is not hard at all. You do not need to buy a Wok either if you do not have one.

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I do stir-frys all the time. I don't generally follow a recipe, though for "everyday cooking" -- more, "let's see what's in the vegetable bin, shall we??" <_< And I always keep boneless chicken breasts on hand. The combination make a quick satisfying meal -- even if the breasts are frozen, a few minutes zapped in the micro and they're ready to be cut up. And with just a few ingredients (I have a similar list like that provided here, but I'd add cornstarch and chicken or veggie broth), a few minutes in the frying pan, and a little time for the rice to cook, I can have a hot meal on the table.

I can't eat Chinese out -- I am very sensitive to MSG, and even a hint of it messes up my digestive tract in a really ugly way. Strange, because it didn't bother me for years..then "all of a sudden" it's a serious problem. So I've had to "make do" with my own.

I think lemon chicken is probably my favorite, and hot-and-sour soup. I've got a couple of great cookbooks that I've had for years, well-stained with spills of soy sauce, sesame oil, other now-unidentifiable "stuff", so when I want to get "serious", out come the books.

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Wolfie's China Garden was a big success tonight. The lemon chicken was very tasty, and the jasmine rice was fabulous. We are both stuffed, and happy. As it says on the front of the dummy book "Forget Chinese takeout!" ]This lemon chicken receipe uses a fresh lemon, both the zest and the juice. It's fabulous!

Anyway dinner over, back to minis!

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Heidi, what particular receipe are you looking for? We just adored the lemon chicken, and last night afterwards I pigged out on cheeze wontons, but they were baked and not fried!

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I'll share my General Tso's Chicken Recipe - modified to be healthier then the restaurants.

This is a lot of work, but well worth it! If you plan accordingly, and break it into two steps, it's not that bad.

Sauce:

1/2 C cornstarch

1/4 C water

1 1/2 tsp fresh garlic minced

1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger minced

3/4 C sugar (I substitute splenda)

1/2 C soy sauce

1/4 C white vinegar (I've used rice vinegar also)

1/4 C sherry (I use white wine)

1 can condensed chicken broth

Throw everything in a container with a lid, shake it up good and put it in the fridge until ready. This can be prepared ahead of time and even left overnight a day or two.

Meat:

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken cut into chunks. (I never use that much, usually I use about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs, but leave everything else the same quantity).

1/4 C soy sauce

1 C cornstarch

2 C scallions (chopped or sliced)

8 small dried hot peppers without seeds. (I don't use these since my husband and I don't like spicy or hot foods, this is optional based on your spice preference).

Mix chicken, soy sauce and pepper in a large bowl. Sitr in egg, add cornstarch and chicken and mix until coated. It will look horrible and gooey and the chicken will stick together.

Now, the recipe says to deep fry the chicken pieces or use a fry daddy. I don't do that (too unhealthy). Instead, I fry them in about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of oil in a large frying pan. Make sure the pan is large enough to hold the chicken and sauce.

When the chicken is cooked, drain on paper towels. Empty all but about 1-2 tablespoons of oil from the pan. Add scallions and peppers (if using them) to the oil and stir fry about 30 seconds. Shake sauce mixture and pour into pan. Cook over medium-low heat until thick and bubbly. If it gets too thick, add some water. When it's fully cooked and nice and thick, mix in the chicken. Meanwhile, I cook up some rice on the side, put it on the plates and add the chicken mixture on top of the rice. If you add the rice to the sauce, it absorbs too much sauce. I also steam some broccoli and throw that in with the chicken/sauce mixture to make it real authentic and "healthy" with the veggies in there.

I make this dish about once a month, sometimes even more if my husband craves it. He LOVES it. I originaly got this from Copycat Recipes but modified it as noted above.

I always have leftovers which do heat well for lunch/dinner the next day. I've made this recipe without breading the chicken and just sauteeing it when I wanted to go healthier on the recipe. It's not true General's Chicken without the breading, but the sauce is so good, it doesn't matter.

Enjoy!

Christine

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Wonton Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 12 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

20 pre-made wontons (wonton receipe follows:)

6 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup julienned carrots

4 to 6 whole baby bok choy - quartered lengthwise

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the wontons and cook for about 4 minutes and drain.

In a medium soup pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the carrots and baby bok choy; cook until the vegetables are tender-crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sesame oil, salt, whipe pepper, and cooked wontons. Cook until all is heated through.

Tip: Cook the wontons right before you add them to tthe soup - if you let them sit around too long, they';ll stick together. If you wish, you can even cook them in the soup stock itself, but you may end up with a starchier, cloudier soup.

Crispy Wontons

Prep time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Yield 48 wontons

1/4 pound medium raw shrimp, shelled and deveined

1/4 pound ground pork

6 whole water chestnuts, finely chopped

3 tablespoons minced green onions

2 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce

2 teaspoons wine

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons cornstarch

48 wonton wrappers

1 egg, lightly beaten

Cooking oil for deep frying

1. To make the wonton filling, with a cleaver, chop the shrimp into a fine paste (or use a food processor). Place the chopped shrimp ina bowl with the pork, water chestnuts, green onions, oyster-flavored sauce, wine, sesame oil, and cornstarch. Mix well.

To make each wonton: Place 1 heaping teaspoon fillingin the center of a wonton wrapper. Keep the remaining wrappers covered to prevent drying.

Brush the edges of the wrapper with the beaten egg; fold the wrapper in half to form a triangle and pinch the edges to seal.

Pull the two opposite corners together, moisten one corner with the egg and overlap with another corner; press to seal. Cover the filled wontons with a dry towel to prevent drying.

In a wok, heat the cooking oil to 350" and deep fry the wontons, a few at a time, turning occasionally, until golden brown. 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Keep them warm in a 200 degree oven while cooking the remaining wontons.

Good luck! This is yummy soup!

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But first we have tea! I got this lovely little CHinese Tea set yesterday as an early b'day pressie! What do you think?

The design is very delicate and it's squarish, except for the cups....octagnol more rather than squarish...... Small in size, but big on style me thinks! Chinese style that is! And more good news! I've dropped almost 10 pounds in the last 10 days! Now THAT is good news! And I'm having a bit more energy!

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