Viet World Kitchen

How to Make Pot Stickers from Wonton Skins

They say that if you’re given lemons make lemonade. Twice in the past twelve months, I’ve been handed wonton skins to make pot stickers. Instead of pivoting to cook up wontons, I used the wonton skins to make pot stickers. I had to because I’d promised pot stickers to a client and a class. Local markets didn’t have pot sticker (gyoza) wrappers or the person in charge of shopping for me wasn’t clear on what was needed. After the initial 5 seconds of shock and panic, I took a breath and finessed the dumpling situation.  

You may think, “What’s the big deal? A dumpling skin is a dumpling skin.” That’s not really true. There are differences in thickness and ingredients. Then there’s the filling itself. Pot sticker fillings are usually soft and very moist whereas wonton fillings are firmer, often times with cornstarch added for binding. Consequently, pot sticker wrappers are relatively thick whereas wontons skins are gossamer by comparison.

So what did I do in the face of a wet pot sticker filling and thin wonton skins? I punted with the following strategies:

CookShelf App Winners

Four lucky people won the app giveaway... [drum beat please] 

• Candice
• Cherelle
• Truc
• Maggie

Thanks to all who shared their thoughs on cookbooks and cooking.

Asian Kale and Seaweed Salad Recipe

Although I had my first raw kale salad years ago in the form of a kale Caesar at a restaurant in Berkeley, it’s taken me until this now to make it myself. Raw kale salads haven’t appealed to me as much as they have to others for the sole reason that most of the kale sold has had tough, super curly leaves. Salads made from that kind of kale are like chewing on a wet Brillo pads. I know that raw kale is a super good-for-you food but how much of it can I really eat to be ‘healthy’? Not much. Kale, I thought, was best boiled, simmered, or sauteed. Well, until now.

We’ve been making an Asian style kale and seaweed salad once a week for a couple of months. The switch happened when I noticed that our farmer’s markets were loaded with kale whose leaves were soft, ruffly (not curly) and practically velvet-feeling. Local farmers were selling 2 bunches of organic kale for $3 and of course, I had to strike. The vendor I queried didn’t know what variety it was but vouched for the leaves as being extra suitable for raw kale salads. So I gave it a whirl.

Professional Cookbook Reviews: An Inside Look + CookShelf App Giveaway

I love to read a good book review, one that’s full of insights tinged with humor and sometimes, a bit of well deserved snark. T. Susan Chang is one of the few professional cookbook reviewers in the United States. You may know her work from National Public Radio, the Boston Globe, or her website. She takes every book to task, testing recipes and evaluating the merits of each work on a variety of levels. Susan’s got twelve (12!) years of professional experience to back her up, plus a solid knowledge of cookbooks that goes back further yet.  

You may not agree with Susan on all of her calls but you don’t have to. Like all excellent reviewers, she lays out her deep assessment so that you can form yours. She recently released a nifty phone app called CookShelf. It’s a cookbook rating app—available for iPhone and Android —that’s extremely thorough and handy for whether you're shopping or just catching up on what's out there. 

I bought the $2.99 app, and after reading through a number of reviews (she adds content regularly too so you’re buying into a lifetime subscription, of sorts), I had questions to ask Susan about the art and craft of reviewing cookbooks. Read on and if you’ve got an iPhone, enter the giveaway; sorry, there are no Android giveaway codes available.

Mustard Greens, Tofu, and Chicken Soup Recipe (Canh Cai Dau Hu)

On Monday, my husband had dental surgery and for his post-operation, recovery dinner, I made a comforting (read: easy to chew) tofu, shrimp, and peas stir-fry. The Trader Joe-san medium tofu came in a 1 1/4-pound (565 g) block and I only needed about a pound. I had a little block left.

What can you do with a chunk of leftover tofu? You can save it in the fridge, or in my case last Monday, I added it to a simple Vietnamese soup with mustard greens and a bit of chicken thigh sitting in the fridge.