Oxtail Potstickers

I don’t usually dive into the territory of Asian food but I felt compelled to do so in honor of the Lunar New Year. As we enter the year of the Ox according to the Chinese zodiac, I figured it would be fitting to ring in the new year with these oxtail potstickers!

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Oxtail Filling

Ingredients:

• 2 to 2.5 lbs oxtail (you can get this at any butcher shop

• Salt & Pepper

• 3 TBSP Chinese Five Spice

• 1 large yellow onion, quartered

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 cups sake

• 6 QTs beef stock

• 1 ¼ c yakisoba sauce (You can find this at any Asian market in your town. They sell it in a 10.6 oz bottle. Use the whole bottle)

• 1 c ketchup

• 1 c soy sauce

• ½ c rice wine vinegar

• ¼ sesame oil

• 2 TBSP crushed red pepper flakes

• ¼ c sliced green onions

• 3 TBSP minced ginger

• 1 TBSP ground Szechuan peppercorns

Instructions:

1. In a mixing bowl, rub the oxtail with salt, pepper, and five spice

2. In a large pot, heat up some canola oil and sear all the sides of the oxtail until golden brown

3. Remove the oxtail from the pot and toss in your onions into the same pot and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook as well, making sure not to burn the garlic

4. Deglaze with sake and reduce until almost fully evaporated

5. Add the oxtail back in and cover with the beef stock

6. Mix in ketchup, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, Yakisoba sauce, and soy sauce

7. Braise on low heat for 2 - 4 hours or until the meat literally peels off the bone

8. Slice ¼ cups worth of scallions and mince three tablespoons worth of ginger

9. Once the meat is tender, carefully pull from the braising liquid and allow to cool

10. Strain the stock and put it back on the burner to reduce until thick. (This will serve as the dipping sauce)

11. Clean the meat off the bones making sure to discard any cartilage. This will be easy to differentiate from the meat because it will be tough and rubbery. It won’t kill you if you miss it but it’s certainly not pleasant to eat.

12. In a mixing bowl, combine meat, scallions, ginger, and about one tablespoon of ground Szechuan peppercorns

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Potsticker Assembly & Cooking

Ingredients:

• 1 package round wonton wrappers

• Water

• Cornstarch (optional for freezing and storing)

Instructions:

1. Lay out your wonton wrappers and add about a tablespoon’s worth of filling to the center. Be careful not to over fill them or they will burst.

2. Fold the wonton wrappers in half, crimping the edges and sealing the filling within

3. Fold the edges into a wavy pattern (Refer to the video at the bottom of this post)

   • OPTIONAL: Place these on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and freeze them. Once the potstickers are completely frozen, toss them in a little cornstarch to keep them from sticking to one another. These can stay frozen indefinitely

4. Once the potstickers are assembled, drop them into a small pot of boiling water for about 2-3 minutes or until the wonton wrapper on the outside is cooked.

   • You can cook these from frozen but make sure to boil them for about 6 - 8 minutes

5. Place the potstickers on a paper towel

6. Heat a pan and add just enough canola oil to coat the bottom and sear the potstickers until the bottoms are nice and golden brown

7. Garnish with more sliced scallions and maybe some sesame seeds and serve with the reduced braising liquid as a dipping sauce

8. Enjoy!

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