Curried Potato Potstickers

AKA "Kinda like pierogi, but not."

Yesterday I took a trip to HMart, my favorite source for cheap Asian food. (Actually, it's my only source for cheap Asian food. I miss it terribly when I'm away at school.) My findings included a 1 lb. package of wonton wrappers for $1.29, which I bought in the hopes that I'd find something around the house to fill it. In a Sudden Fit of Genius^TM last night, it occurred to me I should fill them with potatoes, making something resembling a pierogi, but less labor-intensive. And then I remembered my Huge-ass Jar of Curry Powder.

I bought this curry powder about a year ago and have, sadly, only used about a quarter of it. I don't make curry nearly enough, I guess. "They" say you should buy new spices every six months so the flavor is fresh. I say that if the spice starts losing its flavor, just add more of it.

So here are the other ingredients I dug up:

Besides the wonton wrappers and the curry powder, I've got a quarter of an onion that I found in the back of the fridge (the last bit of onion in the house!), butter, cheddar cheese (obscured by glare), 1.5 lbs. potatoes ($.99/lb), an egg that I ended up not using, and a can of coconut milk powder.

The coconut milk powder was another HMart find from my a few weeks ago, before which I never knew that such a thing existed. I bought it even though I wasn't sure what I would cook with it because it was $.79, and if it was any good it was a great find, since coconut milk (the non-powdered kind) can be expensive. If you aren't like me and don't happen to have weird Asian food randomly lying around the house, you can use regular milk.

Here it is in the can, looking a bit like cornstarch.

The label said to mix the powder with 3 cans worth of water, but 2 1/2 cans was all I could fit in my measuring cup--which ended up to be a good thing, because the flavor was a bit weak. Next time I will probably only add 2 cans worth of water.

Peel and quarter the potatoes, then give them a rinse and stick them in a pot of boiling water for about 20 minutes.

Mince your onion. I probably would have used more if I had it around, but this ended up being a good amount.

Then wait impatiently for the potatoes to be done.

When the potatoes fall apart when you try to stick a fork in them, drain them, rinse and dry the pot, and melt 2 tbsp. butter over medium heat. Throw in the onions and cook until they look like this:

Have I mentioned my love for onions?

Remove from heat and add the potatoes and 1/2 cup coconut milk (or regular milk) and mash until smooth.

Then mix in 1/2 cup shredded cheddar (store brand) and 1 tbsp. curry powder. You could use less curry powder, but you'd be a wimp.

Try not to eat too much of it out of the pot, because we need that for filling!

Use about 1 tbsp. filling per wrapper. Brush the edges with water and then stick a second wrapper on top, making sure you don't have any big air bubbles.

Now, do it again. You'll be done when your counter looks like this:

The recipe made 30 potstickers, using 60 wrappers and leaving me with an extra 12 in my package to figure out something to do with. It takes a bit of time to fill them all, so you might want to find a friend to help you, except then they'll probably want to share.

Dissolve 2 chicken bouillon cubes in 2 cups of water. You could use vegetable bouillon if you want to keep it vegetarian; I just wanted to get rid of these bouillon cubes.

Melt a tablespoon or so of butter in a large pan, then add potstickers to cover the bottom. Don't overlap them quite this much--I was impatient and hungry so I wanted to squish as many into the pan as possible, but it would be better to do them in smaller batches.

Also, make sure to use a nonstick pan. I have a whole set of pink nonstick pots and pans that I bought at a steep discount because half the covers don't fit, but they're all packed up in storage at school. My mother doesn't own a single piece of nonstick cookware. Don't be like her.

Let the potstickers cook for three minutes or so, until the bottoms brown slightly, and then add 1/3 cup broth for every 5 potstickers in the pan. Cover and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat, until the broth is absorbed.

They looked really nice until I tried to pry them out of the pan. Thankfully, torn and mushed-up curred potato potstickers taste just as good as whole ones.

These are two of the four or so that I managed to pry out whole. Mmm, crusty and delicious.

And those are the rest of the first batch. Not too bad, all things considered.

Serving suggestion: top with the rest of the plain yogurt from yesterday's Whatever's On Sale Casserole. If you're really nice, you'll share this with your mother.

Recap:
1 1/2 lbs. potatoes
1/4 large onion, minced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp. curry powder
2 tbsp. butter, plus more for frying the potstickers
60 wonton wrappers
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Peel and quarter the potatoes, then boil for about 20 minutes, until they fall apart when you poke them with a fork. Drain.

Rinse and dry the potato pot, then melt 2 tbsp. butter and sautee the onions in it until brown. Remove from heat and add potatoes and coconut milk and mash until smooth. Stir in cheese and curry powder.

Place about 1 tbsp. potato mixture in the middle of a wonton wrapper, then brush the edges with water and top with another wonton wrapper. Repeat 30 times.

Cook the potstickers in fairly small batches in a nonstick pan. Melt a little butter, then add the potstickers and cook about 3 minutes until the bottoms are slightly brown. Add 1/3 cup broth for every 5 potstickers, then cover and cook for 5 minutes, until the broth is absorbed.

Serve with plain yogurt.

(Originally posted to Cheap Cooking on July 3, 2008.)