Chicken and Scallion Pot Stickers

Food Porn.

Everybody posts it for one reason or another.

25 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee was probably not thinking about millions of plates of food floating around in the old WWW. That and an equal amount of selfies...many of them coming from Philippines.... In any case, it got me thinking. I hope the art of dining isn't some dinosaur act just waiting to be extinct. Imagine an executive chef of a restaurant staring at a quiet dining room filled with a group of people all hovering over their plates taking photos over and over then sitting back down and posting it then having mini conversations with the people commenting on those photos... all along the beautiful plate gets colder and colder. Now imagine that happening in your own dining room. Dinner going end to end without saying much with your faces buried in your phone. I don't have to. I notice it happening in my own dining room.

I have to fix that. Dining is enjoying both the food and the company. Tell stories and do it loudly. Don't just giggle. Cackle. Dining isn't trivial nor is it just a physical obligation. In my experience, Dining is Family. My fondest memories growing up was my Dad cooking up a storm on Saturday mornings and sitting from late lunch Saturday to early dinner Sunday and then it was all week looking forward to the weekend all over again. Man, I miss that.

This recipe isn't so much as the dish but a lesson for my wife and I to remember. Once all the photos have been put up to mingle with the millions of others, it's only the 2 of us, 3 am, sharing a plate of pot stickers. Dining.

Chicken and Scallion Pot Stickers

Chicken and Scallion Pot Stickers

1 lb ground chicken (mincing chicken thighs in a food processor would be the best way to go)
1/2 bunch of green onions sliced thinly (green and white part)
3 tbsp Hoisin sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp grated garlic
salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp green onions thick slices and 1 tsp of sesame seeds for garnish

mix then cover with and keep in the fridge for at least 1 hour

Soy-Vinegar sauce ingredients

Soy-Vinegar Sauce (to be made ahead of time and kept at room temp)

2 tbsp Kimlan Soy Sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sugar
dash of white pepper

stir until sugar is dissolved. set aside

Chili Garlic oil ingredients

Chili Garlic Oil

8 cloves garlic minced
3 tbsp dried chili flakes (or 8 pieces fresh red bird's eye chili minced)
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
pinch of salt and pepper

in low heat, saute the garlic until brown then add the chili flakes. (if using fresh chili, saute garlic and chili together) once the oil starts to change to a reddish color, add the soy sauce, sugar and salt. constantly stir as to keep the garlic from burning. once a deep reddish color is achieved turn of the fire and set aside. 

Procedure

it needs to be Won Ton Wrapper

Grab one wrapper and put about a 1/2 tbsp of mixture right in the middle then wet the top two sides with water

then fold it down the middle to form a triangle

wet both sides of the bottom points

then fold the sides to meet in the middle (as if the dumping is hugging itself)

boil  3/4 cup of water and add the dumplings in

on high heat, let all the water evaporate. once the water has almost boiled off, add about 4 tbsp of oil to the pan and turn the heat down to medium.

be patient. do not poke and prod at them. let them brown. they will lift off the pan once they are golden brown. that is the time that you flip them over and brown off the other side. 

having a little bit of burned corners are perfectly acceptable. that is where the flavor is at.

very important: once they are done, pile then all in to a bowl then pour the soy-vinegar sauce over the top then sprinkle with the scallions and sesame seeds.

then... share the plate with the one you love.