Paleo Chinese Dumplings (Potstickers)
Paleo Chinese Dumplings – A tantalizing and inventive Potstickers Recipe that is gluten free, grain free, dairy free, and fits easily into a healthy diet plan!
When your diet is restricted, due to food allergies or healthy lifestyle choices, there are definitely foods you crave that you just can’t have.
Usually these foods fall hard in the center of the “comfort carbs” category.
Our family has altered our diet quite a lot over the years for various reasons.
We’ve experimented with: gluten free, grain free, vegan, ketogenic, and everything in between… Trying to determine what works best for our bodies. (That we can actually stick with.)
That’s the trick isn’t it? Any diet plan is only as good as your ability to stay the course.
Over the years, the plan we always fall back on time and again is a paleo diet. It’s low-ish in carbs and eliminates foods that are most often agitating to the gut.
Although most of my family have sturdy digestive systems, the paleo diet has proved to be especially helpful to my daughter who struggles with food intolerance.
We have worked hard over the last year to create recipes that curb her cravings for comfort food, while eliminating dairy and grains.
Plantains have proven to be a helpful carby substitute for grains that works well in bread, chips, tortillas, and even dumplings wrappers.
Today’s recipe, Paleo Chinese Dumplings, offer the crispy texture of pan-seared potstickers with a rich luxurious meaty filling inside!
How To Make Paleo Chinese Dumplings (Potstickers)
Believe it or not, you can make traditional Chinese Potstickers with plantains, instead of wheat flour dough… And they taste amazing!
The key is to start with very hard unripened plantains. Cook them to soften, then process them until a firm dough ball forms.
You need no other ingredient, other than a bit of salt, to create pliable dough for the dumplings.
Do not attempt to try this with ripe plantains. Once the starches from the unripened plantains turn to sugar, the consistency is off, and the dough will not come together. Only unripened (green or bright yellow) plantains will work.
Mix the ingredients for the pork filling. Then roll each ball of plantain dough out into a 3 inch circle.
It’s best to place the dough balls between two layers of plastic wrap when rolling, so they are easy to peel off the countertop.
Scoop a small amount of pork filling in the center of each circle then fold and pinch the dough together toward the center of the dumpling.
Make sure each dumplings is completely sealed before cooking.
Paleo Chinese Dumplings Tips
Plantain dough will dissolve in water, so steaming the paleo potstickers is not an option. They must be cooked in a dry nonstick skillet, or in a little sesame oil for extra flavor.
To ensure the pork cooks through, turn the Chinese dumplings so they cook on three sides, 1.5 to 2 minutes per side.
The flavorful pork filling in our Paleo Chinese Dumplings (Potstickers) is so robust, you won’t need any condiments to enjoy them.
However if you just love to dip, make a paleo version of this Asian dipping sauce substituting coconut aminos for soy sauce.
More Paleo Favorites!
Paleo Chinese Dumplings (Potstickers)
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 3 large unripened plantains, green or bright yellow
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the Filling:
- 1/3 pound ground pork
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup diced water chestnuts, well drained
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- 2 teaspoons coconut aminos
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Score the plantains by cutting a long line through the peel from tip to tip. Microwave the plantains for 7 minutes. (The peels with turn black in the microwave.)
- Carefully remove the peels and place the plantain flesh in a food processor. Discard the peels. Add the salt, then cover the food processor and turn on high until the plantains chop into tiny pieces and eventually form a tight ball of dough. This takes a few minutes, so don't worry if it looks like it's not coming together.
- Add the pork, egg, water chestnuts, green onions, coconut aminos, mustard, ginger, and garlic to a medium mixing bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Mix thoroughly by hand until the mixture is smooth.
- Place a piece of plastic wrap on the counter and smooth it flat. Then use a 2-teaspoon sized cookie scoop to measure out the dough. Roll each portion into a tight ball.
- Place one plantain dough ball on the plastic and cover it with another piece of plastic. Roll the dough out into a flat 3-inch circle. It's okay if it's not perfect.
- Measure 1 teaspoon of the ground pork mixture onto the circle. Pinch the top of the circle up over the pork. Then starting on one side, fold small pleats toward the middle and pinch them together, until the dumpling is completely closed. Repeat until you use up all the dough and pork mixture.
- Once all the dumplings are made, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Once hot, add half the dumplings to the skillet. Brown the dumplings on three sides, cooking for about 5-6 minutes total. Remove the dumplings, then repeat with the remaining oil and dumplings. Serve warm as-is or with dipping sauce.
Notes
- After each batch of dumplings cooks, check one dumpling to make sure the pork has cooked through.
- If you don't like the idea of microwaving your food, you can cut the plantains in large chunks and boil them in water for 25 minutes. Then drain off the water, peel the chunks, and proceed with the recipe.
- After several test batches of this recipe, we noticed one batch of green plantains was too moist for some reason, and would not form into a ball. We decided to let it rest for 20 minutes, then try processing it again. This gave the dough just enough time to dry out, and it balled right up for the perfect texture.
Nutrition
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Just wondering what can be used instead of plantains????
Hi There!
We have a classic dumpling recipe that is WONDERFUL!https://www.aspicyperspective.com/potstickers-chinese-dumplings/
However, since this recipe was made to fit into a paleo diet, we feel plantains are the best method for making the dough.
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Can I use a high speed blender instead of a food processor to make the plantain dumplings?
Hi Leigh,
Yes, if you have a good one, it should work. :)
Delicious!
Hi. I’m having a hard time figuring out how one serving of these dumplings only has two carbs. If a plantain has roughly 50 carbs and the recipe calls for 3 plantains, that’s at least 150 carbs in the whole recipe (not including the other ingredients). If there are 6 six serving s of five dumplings, that’s 150 divided by thirty multiplied by five. That would make it be twenty-five carbs per serving. Please explain. Thanks very much.
Hi Hannah,
You know, that does seem a little off. I use the recipe calculator built into our recipe form, and it is usually spot-on to what you might find in My Fitness Pal. I will double check this and update it if needed. Thanks!
How are there only 2 carbs for 5 dumplings? Plantains, even at the unripe stage are very starchy. This recipe is delicious, but after doing some research, it seems to me this nutritional information about the carb count has to be incorrect. PLEASE show me I am wrong because this recipe is too good to be true, and I would love to make it again.
Hi Ruth,
I’ll double check this… I use the recipe calculator built into our recipe form, and it is usually spot-on to what you might find in My Fitness Pal. I will update the recipe if needed. Thanks for pointing this out.