As we sit in our homes surrounded by snow and ice, a little comfort food straight from the oven can warm up our souls. This dish comes together quickly with ingredients that you can keep on hand for whenever you need a quick and easy meal. Different versions of this recipe have gone viral on social media, so you can tweak the ingredients to suit your own taste. Best of all, you can make these oven-baked potstickers using only one dish, making for an easy cleanup.
So, while the combination of ingredients really gives this dish a lot of flavor, two things in particular are having a moment in my kitchen — red Thai curry paste and coconut milk. If you had asked me before if I like curry, I would have said, “Definitely, not.” But after using red curry paste in a Thai chicken soup with coconut milk, I have become a believer. Thai curry adds a certain nuance to dishes without being overly spicy or having the same strong taste that I have associated with curry in the past. Coconut milk is the perfect ingredient for someone who is lactose intolerant or is following a plant-based diet.
When I make these potstickers, I am usually feeding a crowd, so I use a 9 x 13 dish. You can downsize this dish, but the next day, you will wish you made more. Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Into my glass dish, I added one can of coconut milk. Using “regular” coconut milk will give it a richer, creamier flavor. I have also used cans of lite coconut milk, and this works fine, but the consistency of your sauce will be less creamy and a bit more watery. In the same baking dish, swirl in one to two tablespoons of red Thai curry paste (which can be found in small jars at the grocery store), one fourth cup of soy sauce, one to two cloves of minced garlic, one tablespoon of brown sugar, and one tablespoon of rice wine vinegar. After stirring these ingredients together, squeeze one lime into the mixture and grate fresh ginger over the top.
Next, you will want to add your potstickers to the dish. You can find potstickers in the frozen food section of your grocery store. They can be found with pork or with chicken and vegetables. Ones with just vegetables are also an option, to keep it vegetarian. You can also substitute frozen dumplings. I like to add these before the vegetables so that I can stir them around and make sure they are covered in that delicious sauce. Once you have mixed them in the sauce, arrange them in a single layer. For a 9 x 13 dish, I was able to fit most of a large bag of potstickers. Now you have a choice for your vegetables; you can add chopped baby bok choy, a few handfuls of chopped fresh baby spinach or a combination of both. Lastly, I topped everything with some cilantro and green onions, and drizzled some chili oil crunch over the top. Don’t be overwhelmed if this seems like too many ingredients. Recipes are always meant to be adapted for your own personal taste. If you think chili oil is too spicy for your palate? Skip it. Are you fresh out of cilantro and green onions? No problem. Use the ingredients that you have at your disposal and make substitutions. You may develop your own favorite way of enjoying this dish.
Once everything is assembled, cover with foil and bake for a half hour. At this point, the potstickers should be steaming hot, and you may want to remove the foil and allow them to rest for a few minutes. Hopefully, you will enjoy the sauce as much as we did and start imagining other ways to use it. My daughter and I were thinking that the leftover sauce would taste really good over rice or rice noodles. After making the potstickers a few times, I bulked up the meal by adding some leftover chicken to the dish for a hearty dinner.
We would love to hear from our readers. If you have tried this recipe, what changes did you make to suit your style? Send your questions or comments to shorelocalgardener@gmail.com.
Tammy Thornton lives with her husband, children, and crazy pets while enjoying a life of gardening, cooking, and going to the beach.
