Don’t be intimidated with making homemade potstickers. These sweet potato and Shiitake potstickers are actually so easy to make! Mashed sweet potato is combined with sautéed Shiitakes, garlic and ginger then mixed together with some soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, miso paste, sugar and chili flakes. The mixture is then placed into dumpling wrappers and fried to perfection. Dip them in the tart Ponzu Sauce made with lime juice, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and for the perfect blend of flavors.

Sweet Potato & Shiitake Potstickers with Ponzu Sauce

Makes about 30

 Ingredients

• Dumpling wrappers

• 1 sweet potato

• 3 tbsp sesame oil

• 8 large Shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped (comes out to about 2 cups)

• 6 cloves garlic, minced

• 4 tsp fresh ginger, grated

• 1/2  tsp miso paste

• 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

• 1 tsp brown sugar

• 1/4 tsp red chili flakes

• 1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

 For the sauce:

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tsp fresh lime juice

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 1 ½ tsp cane sugar

• 1 tsp chopped green onions (the green top part)

• Sesame seeds and green onions for garnish

Directions

1.  Cook the sweet potato: I like to microwave it to be quick: Prick potato several times with a fork, place on a microwave safe dish and microwave for 10 minutes, flipping over halfway. Once it’s completely soft, let cool a bit. Once cool enough to handle, cut potato in half and spoon the insides into a medium bowl, discarding the skin. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil in a large pan over medium heat (Use a pan that has a lid – The lid will be used later). Add the chopped Shiitake mushrooms, garlic and ginger and sauté for about five minutes.

3. To the bowl with the sweet potato, add the miso paste, soy sauce (1 tbsp), brown sugar, red chili flakes and rice wine vinegar (1/2 tsp). Using a fork, mix together and mash the potato. Mix in the mushroom/garlic/ginger mixture.

4. Assemble the potstickers: Have a small bowl of water close by. Working with one dumpling wrapper at a time, spoon about 1 tablespoon of the sweet potato mixture into the center of the wrapper. Using your fingers, wet the edge of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper up and over the mixture, creating a crescent shape. Make sure to pinch the edges of the wrapper together so they stick together. Crimp the edge with your fingers, kind of like you would with a pie crust. I don’t do any fancy traditional pleating, I just roughly crimp the edge in about four places and it turns out looking pretty good!

5. To the same pan that you used to cook the mushrooms (make sure pan has a lid), heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil (or any oil you keep on hand) over medium heat. Add the potstickers (you’ll most likely have to cook them in batches). Cook for about 2 minutes until the bottom of the potstickers begin to turn light brown. Then, add about ¼ cup of water to the pan (be careful as oil might begin to splatter), then immediately cover pan with the lid and steam for another 5 minutes. If you prefer your potstickers to be crispy on all sides, after steaming, remove lid and fry for a couple minutes on all sides.

6. Finally, make the ponzu sauce: In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce (2 tbsp), lime juice, rice vinegar (2 tbsp), cane sugar and chopped green onions.

7. Serve the potstickers with the ponzu sauce and garnish with sesame seeds and green onions!