Gluten Free: Pot Stickers

If you'd have suggested, five years ago, that I'd should make my own Chinese dumpling wrappers, I'd have thought you were crazy. Life is definitely too short for such nonsense, right? Now, though, after five years without pot stickers, I'd say - let's do it! Ok, it's a bit fiddly and a bit long-winded but, they really are worth the effort. Plus, the more you make them, the quicker and less awkward the process becomes. Anyway, if you're on a gluten free diet and miss Chinese food as much as I do, you'll want to give it a go.

Ideally, you'd use sweet white rice flour - which is made from sticky rice - to make these but, since I haven't found one that's both definitely free from cross contamination - through milling and packing - and affordable (all the certified gluten free ones have to be imported from the USA so you pay more on delivery than on the actual flour), I've used regular rice flour and added xanthan gum to make it pliable. You'll find xanthan gum in most supermarkets, just look in the free from aisle. If you know of a brand of sweet white rice flour that is suitable for Coeliacs, please share, I'll be eternally grateful!

You'll need

For the wrappers:

• 65g cornflour
• 75g rice flour (I use Dove's Farm rice flour)
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 120ml hot water

For the filling:

• 2 chicken breasts, finely chopped (or about 200g chicken or turkey mince)
• 1 small pak choi (about 80g), finely chopped
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 2 tsp sake
• 1 tsp gluten free tamari*
• pinch salt
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
• pinch chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp chopped chives
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar

To cook:

• 2 tsp groundnut (or vegetable) oil
• 75ml water

Make it!

• Mix the cornflour, rice flour and xanthan gum in a bowl with a fork. Slowly add the water, stirring all the time with the fork until well mixed. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to cool slightly.
• Put all the filling ingredients in a bowl and combine. Pop it in the fridge while you finish the wrappers.
• Take the wrapper dough out of the bowl and knead it well on a (corn)floured worktop. It'll take about 10 minutes of kneading to get the xanthan gum to do its thing. the dough won't be stretchy, but it will have a bit of give. Roll into a sausage and cut into 5 equal pieces. Wrap four pieces in cling film to stop it drying out.
• Cut the sausage-fifth into 4 pieces and roll each one into rounds, about 7-8cm in diameter, you don't have to be too exact since you can always trim them later. As you go, cover the rolled out wrappers with a clean damp tea towel. Repeat with the other 4 pieces of dough.
• Once all your wrappers are ready, remove your filling from the fridge and place a teaspoonful of filling in the middle of a wrapper, brush a little water around the edges and fold dough in half, over the filling. Pinch the edges to seal, the dumpling should look like a tiny cornish pasty when it's done. Don't worry if they look a bit rubbish to begin with, you'll be an expert when you've done all 20!
• Heat the groundnut oil in a large frying pan and place the dumplings in the pan. You can put them quite close together, just don't squash them up or they'll stick to each other as they steam. Cook for a few minutes until the bottoms start to brown, then pour in the water and cover with a lid or large plate. Leave to steam for 10-15 minutes, checking halfway to make sure the water hasn't boiled away. Serve while still hot.

You can make an easy dipping sauce by mixing 3 parts tamari with 1 part rice vinegar and 1 part chilli oil. If steamed dumplings are more your thing, just put your dumplings in a bamboo steamer (you can get them in most Chinese supermarkets for not-very-much) and place over boiling water for about 10 minutes.

*Regular soya sauce contains wheat, so look out for tamari which is usually made with rice flour. As always, check the ingredients to make sure it's gluten free. Kikkoman, Clearspring, Tiger and Sanchi all make tamaris that are available in most supermarkets.