Why did I never think to do this?! Why did I inhabit this planet for 33 years without this?!
I LOVE stir fry, we eat some version of it weekly. I LOVE dumplings. My whole family would subsist on nothing but pot stickers, xiao long bao and wontons, given half the chance. Combining the two was so obvious. So perfect. So… not something I’d ever considered until I came across a recipe from taste.com.au. I’ve made it a couple of times, and never the same way twice: different dumplings, different veggies, different ratios. The sauce is amazing, and that always stays the same, but the beauty of stir fry is that you use what you have. So this recipe is a guideline, a serving suggestion at best. But a truly delicious suggestion that I urge everyone to make their own. I’ve made these with various flavours, shapes and styles of dumplings with success, but find pot stickers are the hardiest, and therefore, best to toss around. But substitute away… it’s all good. One day I’ll be super smug and use homemade dumplings (I went to a funky class months ago, and so far have done nothing with that experience), but I’m absolutely not above throwing in some good quality frozen pieces.
This meal serves 4, and is about 350 calories per serve. Of course, that’s hard to gauge when you change everything each time, but if you stick to the spirit of the recipe, it’s a safe bet.
Ingredients
1.5 tbs peanut oil
400g dumplings of your choice – I’m partial to prawn or pork
100ml water
1 onion, thinly sliced
200g mushrooms, sliced
1 small handful of baby capsicum, sliced (or 1 regular pepper)
4 heirloom carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 small head broccoli or 3 bunches broccolini, cut florets and stalks thinly sliced
100g beans or snow peas, trimmed
400g can baby corn, drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
1tsp minced ginger
1/4 cup oyster sauce
2tbs sweet chilli sauce
1/4 cup Shaoxing wine
Large handful baby spinach
Method
- You’ll want everything ready to go before you start. Chop all vegetables and place in one large bowl. Combine oyster sauce, sweet chilli sauce and Shaoxing wine in a jug and set aside.
- In a large frypan with a lid, heat 1tbs oil over medium heat. Add dumplings and cook one side without turning or stirring. Carefully pour water into pan (it will sizzle like mad… I often turn the heat down to low because it freaks me out a little), cover with lid and steam for 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate with slotted spoon and keep warm (this is a quick method – throwing a clean teatowel over it should do the trick).
- Heat remaining oil in a hot wok (you can use a frypan, in fact I have most of the times I’ve cooked this, but since getting one recently, I cannot recommend a wok highly enough!) and add all the vegetables, ginger and garlic. Stir constantly for about 5 minutes, until veggies are tender but not mushy.
- Pour the sauce over the veggies and give a good stir.
- Add the spinach and dumplings and turn gently until the dumplings are coated with sauce and the spinach is wilted.
