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This paleo dim sum recipe uses a paleo pasta filled with flavorful ginger and pork and is steamed to perfection to make these amazing Asian potstickers.
The other day I was having cravings for pasta or something similar, but I didn’t want to have the usual rice noodles that I occasionally eat when the rest of my family eats homemade wheat pasta. Ever since going gluten free and mostly grain free, I don’t have that many cravings for bread or pasta, but every once in a while it’s bound to happen.
I was determined that I wanted to make a sort of grain free pasta, and started experimenting with different mixes of grain free flours to try to get the right consistency for making pasta. I ended up coming up with a combination that made a tasty pasta, but the mixture was a bit too delicate for pulling though the pasta maker as I have always done with traditional wheat flour.
This pasta worked better with a rolling pin and cutting by hand. The dough itself is quite delicate, but the pasta, once boiled, actually has a pretty solid consistency resembling wheat pasta al dente; the flavor isn’t that different either!
As I was rolling out the flour and looking through my fridge, trying to decide what I wanted to make myself to eat, I though about using the pasta dough to make something I’ve wanted to try making for quite some time. I decided to try to make myself a paleo dim sum recipe.
To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself into, or if it would work out, but I kept going anyway. I’m so glad I did because I can truly say that I enjoyed this recipe.
You can probably tell that, despite being an American girl living in Spain, I like to try making and paleo-fying a lot of Asian recipes. I don’t know why, but I guess it’s because I’m attracted to the exotic flavors like ginger, soy sauce, litchis and matcha.
With that introduction, let me share with you my paleo dim sum recipe.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (Even my husband liked this one.) 🙂
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 c. tapioca flour
- 3/4 c. almond flour
- 2 egg
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 400 g ground pork
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 inch ginger root grated
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Mix together the almond flour, tapioca flour, and eggs. It’s easiest if you use your food processor, and you should end up with a grainy mix that holds together well when compacted.
- Make a ball of the mixture and knead it as best you can. If needed, add a little bit of hot water. I like to add hot water because it seems to help make the dough stick together better.
- Let the dough set while you begin to make the filling. Brown the ground pork in a frying pan over high heat, adding in the minced garlic cloves and salt and pepper to taste once browned.
- Grate your ginger root and it to your filling mixture. I like to add a lot of ginger to give it a favor punch, but you can add as much as you like.
- Roll out your dough with a rolling pin. If you’re having issues with the dough sticking, I’ve found it easiest to roll the dough out between two layers of parchment or wax paper. try to get a very thin layer of the pasta dough.
- Use a circular cookie cutter (or the edges of a glass or whatever you have available) to cut out circles of pasta dough.
- Brush the inside of the dough with a little water and add a spoonful of the filling mix to the center of the dough. (How much you use will depend upon the size of your circles.)
- Fold the dough circles in half and pinch the edges of the dough together with your fingers to seal the potstickers closed.
- Once you have finished making your dim sum, you are ready to steam them. I used a bamboo steamer to steam mine in a wok over some simmering water. To keep them from sticking to your steamer of choice, line it with cabbage leaves or parchment paper or something similar. (There is a reason these are called potstickers.)
- Keep steaming until the pasta changes texture and looks cooked (Or you can taste one to check for doneness.) It took me about 10-15 minutes to steam each batch.
- Remove from the heat, and serve with a dipping sauce of your choice. I mixed together a little soy sauce, sesame oil and Asian plum vinegar, but to make it totally paleo you can substitute out the soy sauce for coconut amino or something else.
Homemade Paleo Pita Recipe
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Lauren K.
I’ve been doing grain free for a few years, so adjusting flours and whatnot based on texture has become second hand. The biggest difference was choosing to pan fry for two minutes (in duck fat or palm shortening or beef tallow), then pouring in 3/4-1C of boiling water into that pan and covering with a lid. WOWZERS, the texture on the dough is PERFECT, and even reheats well in the microwave the next day for my husband. This recipe has definitely aged well!
Tracy Ariza, DDS
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Lauren! Thanks for taking the time to let me know.
I have wanted to upload a video I made making these soon- I now make them with the raw meat and it cooks well within the dough! I think I like them better that way! 🙂
Pam
Hi, I love pot stickers and can’t wait to try this recipe but I can’t eat nut flour is there a good substitute for almonds floor?
Thanks
Tracy Ariza
Hi Pam,
I’m not really sure. I haven’t tried with other combinations. The thing I like about the almond flour is that it gives a bit of a nutty texture that really resembles the durum wheat pasta. I’d imagine that with even only tapioca flour, you’d be able to make a workable dough, but the texture wouldn’t be the same. It can become rubbery. Maybe it could be mixed with coconut or arrowroot or something, but, again, I haven’t tried that so I can’t say for sure what you’d end up with.
Scott Mauer
I also have some issues with almond flour, so I’ve experimenting with pumpkinseed meal, and so far it’s worked great as a direct replacement! I used it in the best Paleo bread recipe I’ve tried in a bread machine, and it came out perfect. I just used it for the potstickers and it was delicious, if mildly green before cooking. I had a little trouble getting the dough as thin as I wanted, but I couldn’t find my rolling pin so I was improvising with a jar of pickles. 🙂 I’m also a congenital overstuffer of potstickers, so it’s more likely they’ll break with the crumblier dough. The tip with the water really helped, I think if I had added a little more the dough would have been a little more flexible. Can’t wait to try a double batch and freeze some for later!
Tracy Ariza
That’s interesting! Yes, I made these again the other day.
I’ve been meaning to update the post and say that I now always make them with raw meat inside them. When I first made them, I was afraid it wouldn’t cook through.
Perhaps, ideally to get the dough stronger, yet still have the flavor and texture from the eggs, would be to make a larger batch and use 1 egg and add hot water as the rest of the liquid.
fyi
Just an FYI. Saying you are making dim sum is like saying you are making brunch. Its a meal, not a dish.
Tracy Ariza
Thanks for the heads up!
I have already had someone else tell me the same, but I leave it that way because that’s what people were looking for in Google. Sometimes you have to adapt to what people are looking for. 😉
oliwer
hey, do you think walnut flour would work? I’m a.o. allergic to almonds, but would love to try this recipe out
Tracy Ariza
Hi Oliwer,
I’ve never tried it, but I can’t imagine why not!
You may have to play a bit with the ingredients to get the right texture, but I think it would work just fine! Good luck! 🙂
Sophia
Going to try these tonight, might attempt to fry them since I don’t think I have a steamer! I’ll report back.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Sophia,
I hope they go well for you!
They also are quite nice using the raw meat within the wrappers. I need to make this again with videos and update the post with new ways to do this. I’ve found that the size of the egg can really affect the consistency of the wrappers, too, so I’d like to try to find a better way of writing out the recipe so that it more consistently turns out the right consistency without fiddling too much with it.
Kerstin
Tried this recipe tonight. Not really happy with. Dough turned out alright, although it didn’t looked like yours. Mine was more looking like peanut butter…..although I followed recipe. Also I noticed how important it is to have the same thickness with each and everyone. The sauce turned out the best.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Kerstin,
I’ve been meaning to update this recipe as I tried to recreate it for video and it came out differently- mainly because egg sizes can vary so much. My eggs used to be pretty much the same size, but as my hens are aging, I’m getting a wide variety of egg sizes and am noticing how much that can change the outcome of a recipe! I need to write up a better way to get the recipe easy to follow exactly as written no matter what egg size you use!
I’m sorry you didn’t like it that much. I think once you get it down, it can be a family favorite. I’ve also since experimented with using the meat raw within the dumplings and I liked it much better that way.
Christie
The recipe look amazing so I decided too try it. We love Dim Sum! The dough started out great. I was excited. I rolled it out on wax paper. Then when I went to peel it off the paper it ripped the paper and got stuck in the dough. It became a pain to save. I was so sad. But the filling ous good. And we’re going to use it for the my man’s famous wontons. Thanks for the recipe. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for me. You win some you lose some.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Christie,
I was wanting to make a video for this post, and tried to make this again the other day. I had the same issue that you had this second time and had to add in more tapioca starch and almond flour to get a workable dough. I think this is probably due to the fact that when I wrote this post, my hens were on the younger side and were laying smaller eggs. The problem with writing up a recipe for a certain number of eggs is that egg sizer can wildly vary.
I think you’ll find that adding more of the flours will help you get to the right consistency.
That said, I am going to try to redo the recipe with my current eggs and give more tips for getting the dough right. I also want to say that I have since tried steaming them with the raw filling inside, and actually like that method much more.
I’m just finishing up a kitchen remodel, so I’m a bit behind on everything right now, but it’s definitely on my to-do list for the very near future!
I’m glad that you at least enjoyed the filling!
Tracy Ariza
I should add that I have made this recipe more than twice. (It didn’t really sound that way from the way I answered your comment)- I just don’t normally follow a recipe myself. I add flour until I get the right consistency. When I wrote up the recipe, I measured out what worked for me that day, and I have to admit that I didn’t try using the specific measurements again until the day I tried recording the video.
The next time I make this, I will try to measure it out again to see what my measurements end up being, and will update the post with my findings. I will then try to repeat it several times to make sure the measurements work well repeatedly.