"Potsticker" Sandwich

Happy New Year, everyone! As 2018 arrives, so does the 6 year anniversary of No Free Lunch. Sadly, 2017 was the leanest year in its illustrious history, though I've emerged from it as Dr. Wai. When I started No Free Lunch, I was midway through my first year of graduate school, a year where I learned a lot both in the classroom and in my evenings churning out seventy-four blog posts. It's still fun to go back and see how my approach has evolved. I am very proud of the few recipes I did manage to post last year, including one of my best Chinese dishes yet, two "modernized" takes on Jewish holiday traditions, and a fantastic blind dive into Pei Mei's Chinese Cookbook. I hope 2018 will be a fruitful year for this blog, and I already have the next post in the works. My new year's resolution is that I will be less of a perfectionist when it comes to recipes and give you a few more works in progress.

For the first post of the new year, I've got a real oddball that turned out incredibly well. Making a huge batch of potstickers can be time consuming and tiring. Sometimes you run out of dough, and have a little filling left, but not enough to justify another batch of dough. Sometimes you just get hungry. I have the solution: potsticker sandwiches. I've made these here and there over the years, but doing this post made me sit down and think about how to make them as delicious as possible, and I believe I have achieved it. Crunchy cabbage, gooey egg, and savory potsticker filling combine beautifully into a satisfying, self-contained meal. 

The ingredients are pretty mundane, aside from the potsticker filling that forms the center of the sandwich. I used ciabatta rolls for the bun here. While good, I think they are a little too robust for this sandwich, and a regular hamburger bun or the large-size King's Hawaiian would be best the way to go. For the greens, anything you have on hand is fine, but if you are using my potsticker recipe, you'll have some napa cabbage on hand. Just tear off some of the green leafy parts. I felt the sandwich needed some lubrication, and Japanese mayo (Kewpie is the most common brand) fits the bill nicely. If you've never tried it, I highly recommend giving it a go.

Ingredients (per sandwich)

• 4 oz. leftover potsticker filling (see my recipe, "Potstickers, the Hard Way")
• 1 Tbs panko
• Flour for dredging
• Vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 bun of your choice
• Cabbage or lettuce leaves
• Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie)

Instructions

Note that the photos here are for two sandwiches, which can easily be made in a single pan.

Mix the panko into the potsticker filling. Press the filling into a disk, about 3 1/2 inches across. Spread a little flour out on a plate and dredge the disk on both sides. 

Heat a little vegetable oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Fry the meat disk for a few minutes on each side, until well browned and cooked through. Set aside when done.

This pan from IKEA replaced the old, battered potsticker pan

Wipe out the pan and add a bit more oil. Fry the egg to your preference. For sandwiches, I like mine over medium, so that the yolk is still soft, but does not run out when you bite into it. While the egg is cooking, slice the bun in half and warm it up in a toaster oven.

To assemble the sandwich, squirt a little mayo on the bottom bun, add the greens, then the meat. Top with the egg and some more mayo.