Asian Shrimp & Dumpling Stir Fry

Asian Shrimp & Dumpling Stir Fry... I love dumplings. Why I have never tried making them from scratch I don't know - but I haven't and I won't like, the ones I used last night were straight out of the freezer section of Trader Joe's. However, these were little mini dumplings I'd never tried before and they were super Dahlish. OK actually I lied, as a child in elementary school every year for Chinese New Years a few class moms came in and taught us about the holiday, and surprise surprise my favorite activity was making pot stickers. YUM.

Anywho, if you like dumplings but you haven't yet had the urge to make them yourself, I'd highly suggest trying these little pockets of chicken cilantro yumminess from TJ's. Here is how I made them into a meal:

First I started with a little marinade for my shrimp. Lime juice, soy sauce, sriracha - pretty simple.

Next - while the shrimpies were soaking up that flavor in the fridge, I started sauteing/steaming a head of broccoli cut into bite sized bits in a bit of oil. Once they were mostly cooked I tossed in my shrimp.

While the shrimp were getting nice and pink on each side (2 or so minutes per side) I popped the dumplings in the microwave for 2 minutes to steam. You could also pan fry them per the directions but I don't have non stick pans and I'll say from experience pot stickers REALLY do stick to the pot if you don't have the right cooking utensils.

Once the dumplings were nicely steamed I pulled dumped them into my sauteing shrimp/broccoli mixture and quick added a sauce I whipped up. The sauce was made of things I had, sadly no fresh herbs but oh well. It was a liberal pour of soy sauce, a quick dash of water, a few drops of sesame oil, juice from half of a lime, and a squirt of sriracha - quickly whisked and tossed into the pan.

I turned the heat down so that the dumplings didnt stick to my pan and let everything toss around in the liquidy sauce until it thickened after a minute or two. Simply plated in a large flat bowl and voila! Shrimp and dumpling stir fry in literally 12 minutes.

Super easy meal and super satisfying - I'd say it was 75 percent home made. I cooked the shrimp and the broccoli and the sauce, but the dumplings I can't take credit for. Still 3 out of 4 aint so bad for that quick of a Tuesday night meal!

Hope this provides some of you out there with inspiration to make your own dumplings, and if you do, please let me know how it goes!