I actually bought the fixins for “regular” pot stickers last week due to inspiration from Pass the Sushi.  I was going to make them with ground turkey and kale and all sorts of other healthy-type ingredients – BUT NOT ANYMORE.

…Sort of.  Now we’ll be tossing some bacon in to tell those pot stickers who’s boss (screw you, ground turkey)!

 

I actually learned a lot about pot stickers in my googling to find some referential recipes.  Did you know that pot stickers are actually one of three types of dumplings?  Boiled, steamed and “shallow-fried” or pot stickers.  And did you know that they actually originated in China (not Japan, which I for some reason assumed.  Also, ty Wikipedia)?  Well I didn’t, and I find the history of food interesting.  So…that’s all I have to say about that.

My friend Steven (the friend with whom I’m taking this weekend’s BaconFest adventure) and I whipped these up the other day with unanimously fantastic results.  What’s great is that it’s a very straight forward recipe as well.  You cook up your bacon pieces, sautee the vegetables in some of the grease, fill and pinch the wonton wrappers, sear the bottoms, then steam until done.  It took a little practice for me to be able to pinch together the wonton wrapper without wanting to throw things, but after the first few I got the hang of it.  It was fun!

The wrappers I picked up were square as you can see, so my pot stickers ended up looking a little more like ravioli.  I still think they look alright, though, ^_^

Final verdict?  Fan-freaking-tastic.  Especially because I was concerned they would be either sodden with grease or too overpoweringly bacony, I was really happy with how they turned out.  They were chewy and savory, definitely tasting of bacon without feeling like I was shoving my face into a pig.  The vegetables were predominantly flavored with bacon as well, but still maintained their texture and some of their flavor as well.  A winning recipe, if I do say so myself. ^_^  These may not be officially “correct” pot stickers, but they’re still worth the time to make.

There’s still some time left to join in with Bacon Week!  The last bacony post for n00bcakes will be going up on Sunday, so until then you should feel free to leave a link to your bacon-travels on this post.  Come join the fun. ^_^

Emily’s back with another crazy-awesome recipe.  Check out her Devils on Horseback!

 

Bacon Pot Stickers

With inspiration from Pass the Sushi and Architheque.

Yielded 28 pot stickers for me…may create a few more or a few less depending on the ingredient variance.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb bacon, chopped into bits (if you have a food processor, this makes it much easier)
• 1 1/2 bunches of kale, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 package wonton wrappers

Instructions:

(I know 16 steps looks daunting, I just broke it down as much as possible).

1. Fry bacon until thoroughly cooked.
2. Reserve about half of the bacon grease, and use the rest to sautee the onions and kale.
3. When the kale has slightly wilted and onions have started to become translucent, reserve all filling in a bowl (if you want to use a separate pan for the steaming, you may leave the filling in the warm pan).
4. Fill a mug/small bowl with water in which to dip your fingers for wonton wrapper-folding.
5. Put a wonton wrapper onto a fresh plate and wet your fingers from the mug/bowl.  Wet down the edges of the wonton wrapper.
6. Place a small spoonful of filling into the center of the wrapper.
7. Using your thumbs, hold the filling in place and using your fingers, fold the wonton wrapper in half and push the edges together.
8. Use a fork to pinch down the edges securely, making sure to flip the pot sticker over and pinch the other side as well.
9. Repeat until you have no filling left.  If you don’t want to make all 28 of the pot stickers, stop here!  Put the leftovers into a bag and freeze them for later cooking.
10. Pour ~1 tbsp of the reserved bacon fat into your pan.
11. Place the pot stickers edge-side-up in the pan.
12. Turn on medium heat and let them sizzle for ~5 minutes/or until the bottoms turn brown.
13. Pour ~1 cup tepid water (or do what I did and just pour whatever’s left from your finger-dipping cup) into the pan – be careful for splattering!  I used a relatively small pan, so if you are using one larger than 8″, you should add more water.
14. Cover with a lid and simmer for ~5 minutes.
15. Remove the lid and simmer until all the water evaporates.
16. Remove with tongs and consume!