Hey everyone! I have some exciting news! This week, I had the pleasure of working with Better Homes and Gardens to create a guest post for their food blog Delish Dish.
I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when they contacted me because one… it’s Better Homes and Gardens, a magazine I can remember flipping through when I was little. And two, its cross-generational influence is directly in-line with what the recipes on Hapa Nom Nom are all about.
Saying yes was the easy part, but selecting just one recipe was a bit more of a challenge. I finally settled on Spicy Chicken Pot Stickers with a Ginger Scallion Dipping Sauce.
I made the pot stickers, following the recipe to the letter – they were very delicious! However, the objective was to put my own little spin on things, and that’s exactly what I did.
- I substituted the water chestnuts for shredded carrots to add a bit of natural sweetness. I also added fish sauce, which gives food a tremendous depth of flavor and incredible complexity. Sometimes I get a strange look when I mention fish sauce, but if you like Thai, Vietnamese, or other Southeast Asian cuisine, then chances are you’ve already had it. A big part of those flavors you love is fish sauce!
- I prefer my dipping sauce to be flavored with ginger, and generally don’t leave the grated ginger in the sauce; therefore, I instead sliced it up and let it infuse the sauce before removing it. Additionally, I sprinkled the scallions over the pot stickers as a garnish instead of adding them to the dipping sauce so they stay crispy.
- Finally, there are various ways to wrap pot stickers, and I prefer the more traditional method of pleating them to make a crescent shape. It’s really not very difficult – I created a video so you can see just how easy it really is.
If you want to make the pot stickers and serve them later, or if you want to double the recipe so you can have some for dinner and save the rest for another time, they are perfect for freezing!
Simply place the uncooked pot stickers on a baking sheet so they are not touching, cover it with plastic wrap, and freeze for about 3 hours or until they’re completely frozen. Next, transfer the pot stickers to a zip top freezer bag – they can be frozen for up to two months. When you’re ready to cook them, take them out of the freezer and cook according to the recipe, just as you would if you had made them fresh!
Check out my spin on these super flavorful Pot Sticker with Ginger Dipping Sauce here!
Congratulations and photo is worthy of BHG magazine.
Thanks so much, Suchi!
Huge congrats on the BHG magazine! So happy for you! 🙂
I really don’t mind eating gyoza everyday. These are so perfect, Kathleen! Loving the nice crunch from the water chestnuts. Definitely magazine worthy!
Me neither! Honestly, I think maybe was making batch after batch under the guise of a photo re-shoot, when really I just wanted more gyoza!
What an exciting week for you, Kathleen! I think you chose a perfect recipe – it’s so representative of the sort of recipes you like to make, and it’s got beautiful photos most definitely worthy of a top magazine.
Goes without saying that I love the video too. Congratulations, dear friend!
Thanks so much, Helen. That really means a lot to me 🙂
Congrats Kathleen, that is amazing!! You must have been stoked – you so deserve it. and fish sauce is the best! it’s must be one of the most dominant ingredients in south-east asian cooking – I once went to a cooking class in Vietnam where the women taking it proclaimed her absolute love of fish sauce, hugging the bottle! I’m not quite that fervent, but it is still a vital pantry item. I still haven’t got around to making my own dumplings – yours look amazing though! Need to give it a go.
Oh my gosh…. a cooking class in Vietnam sounds AMAZING!!! Fish sauce is such an incredible ingredient when used tactfully – I wish everyone would give it try!
I gotta try this. I just love spicy chicken, thanks a lot
I’m always a big fan of anything spicy! Hope you enjoy!
Good for you! Congrats, girlfriend! You totally deserve it! These pot stickers look soooooo delicious and you make it look so easy! You’re killing it with these videos too, man!
Thanks Rachelle! I’m so glad you’re liking the videos – some things like wrapping dumplings are just so much more easily explained with a video 🙂
Okay coming to your blog before I’ve eaten lunch was a very bad idea because I’m suddenly starving!!! These pot stickers look soooo good! I just want to steal those chopsticks from you and grab these babies straight out of my screen! Fantastic, Kathleen <3 And big congrats for the opportunity to work with BHG 😀
Lol! Well I can honestly say the same thing when I visit your blog! Thank you so much, Beeta <3
Congratulations Kathleen! How exciting! I am so proud of you but very very sad as I know you like all the way over there and I am all the way over here and I can think about these delicious pot stickers. Pinning, sharing, smoke signal sent.
Thanks so much, Bobbi! Hopefully one day we can share a dumpling or two 🙂 xxoo
Congrats girlfriend!!! So thrilled and beyond words happy for you! BH&G is a HUGE deal!! Loooove these potstickers! Totally wish I was your neighbor because I would have invited myself over all 4 or 5 times you made them. 😉 Perfection! Cheers and happy Fri-Yay! Oh, and Pinned of course!
Aww… thank you so much my dear 🙂 Now I have the Mr. Rogers song playing in my head, ‘won’t you be my neighbor’. Is that weird/creepy? Lol! 😛
First off. . .huge congratulations for being asked to pull this together for such a popular magazine. You should be proud as it is a testament to the quality of your work. Second. . .holy moly!!!! These are making me incredibly hungry. That filling is so divine. . .and that sauce. . . mmmmmm!
The Mr. is currently in Shanghai (we are being relocated there) and is burnt out on Chinese food. . .so I’m going to need to make a shipload of these and enjoy them all by myself while he is still away (I have 3 weeks hence the shipload).
Thanks so much, Lynn! But I must say, I had a really great recipe to work with from the start 🙂 How exciting that you’re relocating to Shanghai! I can’t image all of the wonderful food you’re going to have! My hubs travels a lot for work too, and that’s when I load up on everything I love that he doesn’t want to eat 😉 Hope you enjoy my dear 🙂
Congratulations, girlfriend! I am so thrilled for you and this awesome opportunity! And I’m thrilled for me for having this fabulous recipe in my repertoire! You rock!!!
Thank you my dear, I was pretty excited 🙂 xo!
Congratulations! They look amazing! Beautiful shots!
Thanks so much, April!
Many congratulations to you dear Kathleen! And these chicken potstickers look amazingly delish. And that sauce looks and sounds beyond YUM! he sauce! PS: I am loving your stunning videos! 🙂 <3
Thank you my dear, xxoo!
I actually love eating the ginger with pot stickers. These look so amazingly delicious!
Thank you Jasline 🙂
Congrats Kathleen, I’m so happy for you! These look perfect! Pinned!
Thanks Mira!
Congratulations! Kathleen:D Shared everywhere!!
Thank you my dear 🙂 xxoo!
This is such a great news! Loved the idea of infusing sauce with ginger rather than grating.
Thanks so much! For me, raw ginger can be a bit overwhelming so I always like to infuse it or use the juice in dipping sauce 🙂
Big giant congratulations Kathleen! What a great news! You deserved this girl. It’s such a beautiful recipe and again, love the video! Your hard work finally paid off, and I’m so happy for you 🙂
*Big smiles* Thank you so much for your super sweet comment, Maggie. I’m definitely excited! xxoo!
First, congrats!! Second, omg these look amazing – the potstickers! the sauce! Side question: how do you clean drool off of a keyboard? 😉
Ha! I don’t know, but I would sure like to know! I have that problem too 😉
Congrats Kathleen!! Pot stickers are my favorite, with their crispy little bottoms, and I could make a huge plate of them dinner. Yum! I’ll have to try your recipe soon 🙂 BTW, I live near a city with a big Vietnamese community and visited one of their food markets last week…they had homemade fish sauce!! I bought some and will use it in your pot stickers. Yay!! 🙂
Omg!!! That sound incredible!! SO jealous of you and fish sauce hook-up 😉
Congratulations!! what an honor to be chosen for a major magazine. You make these look so easy and delicious….
Thanks Lyn! I definitely did my ‘happy dance’ when they contacted me 🙂