One Pot Curried Potstickers

I was on a very long flight last week, coming home from my first trip abroad, having spent 10 unforgettable days wandering the streets of London, England, Edinburgh, Scotland and various cities and villages in Ireland. The trip was incredible, but I’ll save some of those stories for another day.

Back to the flight. It was long, like 10 hours long, and as much as I wanted to sleep for the majority of it, my brain had other plans. So I did the next best thing and fell down the rabbit hole of the internet (that statement is dripping in sarcasm). My doom scrolling led me to a dozen versions of a one-pot dumpling dish that apparently went very viral over the last few weeks. I had to admit, the recipe looked easy and delicious, so I bookmarked it and resumed my scrolling.

Finally home and rested up enough to attempt a meal, I decided to take a stab at the dumpling recipe. The dish is fairly straightforward, you mix up a sauce in a baking dish, line with dumplings or potstickers and bake in the oven. The result is a steamed dumpling in a rich curried coconut milk sauce dotted with all kinds of yummy garnishes like green onions, toasted sesame seeds and a drizzle of chili crisp.

Because I can’t leave anything alone, I tried to add a whole head of savoy cabbage to the dumplings and unfortunately the ratio of liquid to vegetable and dumpling made a mess of the recipe and it was a big flop. Attempt two, I backed off on the added veggies, settling for a couple big handfuls of baby spinach instead and the recipe turned out beautifully. So much so, my teenagers ate the entire pan before I could say ‘wait,’ so I had to make it a third time.

I figured if my family was this enthusiastic over the recipe, your family might be too. And, in the off chance you haven’t had this particular recipe cross your internet path just yet, I would provide you the salt and stone version right here.

A quick recipe note: I use frozen potstickers in this recipe. You certainly could find frozen dumplings at your grocery store to stay more in line with the original recipe, but I found the potstickers to work great. I chose a chicken and vegetable version from Costco, but use whatever kind you like. Also, if the spinach is a no-go, try a couple small bokchoy, rinsed well and roughly chopped. An even easier option would be a bag of broccoli slaw, found in the refrigerated section of the produce section at your grocery store.

One Pot Curried Potstickers

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

• 3 tablespoons red curry paste

• 1 14-ounce can full-fat coconut oil

• 5 cups fresh baby spinach

• 24 frozen chicken and vegetable potstickers

• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro leaves, minced

• Chili crunch oil (optional)

• 2 cups cooked rice (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large casserole dish, stir together the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, red curry paste and coconut milk. Add the spinach and give a gentle stir. Top with the pot stickers and cover the dish with foil.

Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes until the potstickers are steamed, tender and hot all the way through. If you plan to serve rice with this dish, make your rice according to package instructions while the potstickers bake.

Once the potstickers are done baking, remove the pan from the oven and uncover. Sprinkle the dish with the cilantro leaves, green onions, toasted sesame seeds and a light drizzle of the chili crunch oil.

To serve, scoop several potstickers along with lots of sauce and spinach into a shallow bowl. Serve alongside rice. Enjoy! Recipe serves four hearty portions.