Cream Cheese Dumplings

This was such a fun recipe and another great option for party appetizers or a way to experiment with these different fillings and tastes. I knew this recipe was something I wanted to make, but I also thought plain cream cheese was a bit ho-hum. But by digging through the fridge and pushing the limits a bit, I was able to create some pretty awesome taste combinations.

Cream Cheese Dumplings

Heat olive oil (about 2 inches) in a large, deep skillet
Take two blocks of cream cheese and mix them with any of the following:
Feta cheese
Goat
cheese
Garlic
Basil
Oregano
Sun dried tomatoes (in oil, drained and minced)
Salt
Pepper

Take wonton wrappers and lay them on a flat surface. Place a small spoonful of mixture in the center of the wrapper and lightly wet seams all the way around with water.

Pinch corner to corner to seal (will make an X pattern when looking straight down at it). Place wontons in oil and fry on each side until brown. Drain on paper towels

The only thing about this recipe that I didn't care for was the fact that my house smelled like the back of a greasy diner for a day or two after making the dumplings. I even had the vent on when the frying was taking place and it didn't trap all of the smell. But they were absolutely worth it.

The recipe says to use olive oil for frying, but I used canola oil. I also used low-fat Philly Cream Cheese and it turned out completely fine. I normally wouldn't advocate using fat-free in something like this, just because you never know about the consistency, but the low-fat was great. For the fillings, I followed a few of the choices from the actual recipe but I also threw in a few of my own:

Cream Cheese, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Basil
This kind of tasted like a pizza, only better. The sun dried tomatoes (packed in oil) had a nice warmth and the basil (fresh from my little potted plants outside) gave it that bite.

Mozzarella, Turkey Pepperoni and Basil
Here I used a mozzarella string cheese stick that I cut into chunks, and I cut the turkey pepperoni slices into quarters, and slivered the basil. It worked really well, except that the cheese didn't hold up as well as I had hoped. It melted and expanded in the hot oil, of course, but then it cooled down significantly and kind of turned into a blob. It tasted good, though.

Cream Cheese, Feta Cheese and Diced Garlic
Another delicious one! The feta really broke through and overpowered the cream cheese, which is exactly what I was hoping would happen. The garlic was great, too, after being super heated with the hot oil.

Diced Shrimp and Hoisin Sauce
Ooh, you weren't expecting this one, were you? Hoisin sauce is a Chinese dipping sauce, like soy sauce or plum sauce. I had this sauce on hand for a recipe I found in Cooking Light, Hoisin Glazed Beef Kebabs. I used frozen cooked shrimp that I thawed and diced into small pieces and mixed them with a teaspoon or so of the hoisin. Pretty good, but I think it was a solid third place as compared to some of the other mixtures I tried.

When the dumpling is folded, you see the "X"

Cooling on the wire rack after coming out of the oil

Now I can't imagine these are all that good for you, but they're certainly fun to make and they definitely taste good. I used a large pot to fry in, but a deep fryer would also be the best choice. The wonton wrappers I used are Nasoya Wonton Wraps and I was able to find them at a few stores in town. They're refrigerated and usually found in the produce section, at least in my area. They're about 2"-3" square and come in a pack of 60 or so. When they go into the oil, they literally take no more than three or four minutes until they are crisp and brown and ready to come out. Please resist the urge to eat one immediately and do give them time to cool off.

I will definitely make these again and I'll do a few more combinations. I'd love to do one with chocolate, but I don't how well it would respond to the high temperatures since chocolate can burn easily. I think fruit might be good, too. Or, you can cut the wrappers into strips and fry them. From there, they can be used to top soup or just put out in a bowl for people to snack on. Pretty versatile!

Crispy Pork and Kimchi Pot Stickers

When I was picking out recipes for this quest, I figured I would have a mix of easy recipes and more complicated recipes. This fell into the "more complicated" category. Just looking at the kimchi and unseasoned rice vinegar made me twitch, thinking I would have to search the ends of the earth to find these items. Once again, imagine my surprise when I found these items at our local Big Box retailer. Oh unnamed massive retailer, you saved me once again but that does not change my distaste for you.

Crispy Pork and Kimchi Pot Stickers

TOTAL TIME: 1 HR
SERVINGS: makes about 36 dumplings
Ingredients
SAUCE
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 garlic clove, minced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
DUMPLINGS
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound kimchi (Korean pickled cabbage), drained and finely chopped
4 scallions, green parts only, thinly sliced
1 large egg, beaten
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
36 gyoza wrappers
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup water
Directions
MAKE THE SAUCE: In a small skillet, toast the sesame seeds over moderately high heat for 30 seconds, shaking the pan, until lightly browned. In a small bowl, stir
the soy sauce with the vinegar, water, garlic, scallion and toasted sesame seeds.

1. MAKE THE DUMPLINGS: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the ground pork with the kimchi, scallions, egg, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix the dumpling ingredients thoroughly.

2. Place 4 gyoza wrappers on a work surface; keep the rest covered with plastic wrap. Lightly moisten the edges of the gyoza wrappers with water. Place a level tablespoon of the ground pork and kimchi filling on one side of each wrapper and fold in half to form half-moons. Press the edges of the wrapper firmly to seal, making pleats for decoration. Lift each dumpling by the pleated edge, transfer it to the baking sheet and press down lightly to flatten the bottom; the dumpling should be standing with the pleat side up on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining gyoza wrappers and pork and kimchi filling.

3. In a large, nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add half of the pot stickers to the skillet, flattened side down. Pour in 1/2 cup of the water, cover and cook over moderately high heat until the water has evaporated, the filling is cooked through and the bottoms are browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and keep warm. Wipe out the skillet and repeat with the remaining oil, pot stickers and water. Serve with the dipping sauce on the side.

Freshly formed pot stickers

Blurry, cooked pot stickers

Yummy pork filling

The Husband made the dipping sauce while I mixed together the pork and kimchi filling. Now let me say something about this kimchi. It smells just like you would imagine - like pickled, spicy cabbage. Oof. And boy, does that stuff stain. And since the recipe calls for such a small amount, I still have almost a whole jar of this stuff still left to eat. I also have lots of those wrappers left, considering I halved this recipe. So it looks like we're having pot stickers again in the near future. But I completely don't mind because this meal was that good. We decided next time we would halve the recipe and add in a few pieces of sushi for each of us just to round out the meal.

I admit - I was a little afraid of this recipe. I'm now cooking for the Husband, too, and not just myself, so there is a lot more riding on my success or failure of dinner. Success - happy Husband. Failure - call Papa John's. But I can say with confidence that neither of us even considered calling the Papa once this meal was on the table. This was a total success! The dipping sauce really made the meal, and next time I may even sprinkle some of the sesame seeds onto the pot stickers before they go into the pan. We'll also add more of the kimchi since it doesn't have the kick we thought it would, and we would add hot chili flakes to the dipping sauce and maybe some chili garlic sauce to the filling.

I let them go in the pan for about nine minutes, and the bottoms had browned nicely and the pot stickers were a little chewy, but I imagine that's how they're supposed to be. They weren't inedible or anything.

Overall, this was delicious and while there is room to improve, I think these are good enough to eat as is.