The Princess rolled over on her silk bed mat, and stared again at the letter in her hand. She should have destroyed it, to be safe – but it was cryptic enough that only she and the rebels would be able to decipher the instructions. And so – even though its contents were now indelibly etched in her mind – she saved the crinkled paper, thinking that she had nothing that connected her so definitively with the rebel leader.
But would it work? She wasn’t sure. There were many moving parts – of which she was just one. Her mind jumped erratically from scenario to scenario, unable to rest as she contemplated what else she could possibly do to improve their chances.
The Princess popped up and peered through the silk canopy at her ladies-in-waiting, all spies of the Prime Minister or her father. They were asleep on their own mats near the main entrance of her chambers, outside of which four guards roamed.
She got to her feet and backed towards the east corner of her room. Glancing quickly at the paper in her hands, she knelt and felt around for the two corner floorboards. Grasping their edges, she pulled them upwards. There was a large empty space underneath – a hole of pure blackness. How had the Rebel known of this secret tunnel’s existence to her chambers, when she, the King’s daughter, didn’t? There was no time to speculate. She dropped into the hole, pulled the floorboards back into place above her, and began to make her way in darkness the only direction she could. Eventually the tunnel narrowed and the air grew stifling. Just as she was starting to panic in the claustrophobic confines, she felt soft fabric above her. She moved the cloth slightly and attempted to peek out, but could see and hear nothing – so she uncovered the hole completely and climbed out of the tunnel. Glancing around, her eyes already adjusted, she could make out the shapes of various clay pots and ceramic vases – ah. The kitchen storage rooms.
Here, she would find what she needed. As she worked in darkness, her mind turned to the long journey ahead. They would need supplies, enough for many days. She turned back to her task, intent on finishing before the palace awoke. Finally, when it was complete, she moved swiftly around the storage room, emptying larders, collecting dumplings and other transportable food into tightly packed bundles. Then she moved to the far corner of the storage room and placed everything in a large, empty kimchi pot. There. Phase 1 was complete. She slipped back down into the tunnel and returned to her room.
[To be continued! Of course…
For past installments of the Princess & the Rebel drama and related recipes, click here.]
These are obviously some of the dumplings the Princess stuck in her pack. (She has good taste, clearly. And those palace cooks…mm-hmm.)
(If she’d had more time, I’m sure the Princess would have presented her dumplings thusly.)
Addendum: I've added an alternative wrapper recipe which is less dependent on different flour brands (until I can figure out a better way to standardize/test multiple alternative flours). This one should produce an easily workable dough, and only requires cassava products.
- Potsticker Wrapper (original)
- 1 c tigernut flour
- 1 c cassava flour
- ½ c tapioca flour
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- 2 tb olive oil
- ¾ c - 1.5 c hot water (start with ¾ c and add more as needed to form dough ball)
- More tapioca flour/arrowroot starch for dusting
- Alternative wrapper recipe:
- 3 whole pieces boiled cassava (~2+ cup when blended + packed after cooking)
- 1+ c Otto's cassava flour (add more as needed if dough seems too sticky)
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- 2-3 tb avocado or olive oil
- Filling
- 1 pound grassfed ground beef
- 1 onion, minced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tb fresh ginger, minced
- 1 cup (when cooked) boiled/steamed spinach or watercress, chopped & drained
- 3 scallion stalks, chopped
- 1 tb coconut aminos
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tb apple cider vinegar
- olive or avocado oil for cooking
- Cook filling, sauteing onion, garlic, ginger, & scallions over medium heat before adding beef to brown. After beef has browned, add cooked greens and seasoning (ACV, aminos, sea salt). Pour off (and drink, because it's deliciously complex/nutritious) any excess liquid (Note: not actually necessary to pre-cook the filling...I just usually do 1) to taste it beforehand and 2) because it takes the guesswork out of how long to cook the dumplings.)
- While filling mixture is cooling, make potsticker dough, whisking together all the dry ingredients + oil. Add in hot water and mix until dough ball forms (dough should be knead-able, not sticky, with a good springy quality).
- [For alternative dough: blend/food process cooked cassava until smooth, then add in cassava flour and other ingredients. Workable dough ball should form. Continue as follows.]
- Roll the dough out on tapioca/arrowroot-floured parchment paper, as thin as possible (ideally to less than 1mm thickness). Cut out circular rounds (I used a container lid for this.)
- Fill rounds with ~1 tb of filling. Dip your finger in water and run it around the edge of the circle. Seal the edges together carefully and crimp as desired (Note #2: this dough is not as strong as your regular glutinous wheat dough. It takes a bit of finesse/TLC - i.e. a delicate balance between keeping it wet enough to avoid becoming brittle, and flouring your surfaces enough so the dough doesn't stick. As you're working you may need to cover the remaining dough with a damp paper towel, or add a tiny bit more water if it dries out.)
- Place formed dumplings on a starch-dusted plate.
- Heat up a non-stick pan over medium heat with ~2 tb olive/avocado oil. When oil is hot, add five or six dumplings (make sure they don't stick to each other). Cook for ~3-5 mins per side, until dumplings have browned.
- Add ~1/2 cup of water and cover pan so dumplings absorb water/steam. Cook covered for ~5 minutes, or until all the water has evaporated. Crisp for a minute or two more in pan, then serve with kimchi or a coconut aminos + scallion/chives dipping sauce.
Some process photos for you… (I did not always manage to roll these to .5mm…but no matter, still tasty)
These ones = slightly less steamed. They’re more like pastry w/ less steaming (a bit crunchier, still tasty, but recommend steaming through for potsticker consistency)
Nom. The only reason these lasted more than one day is because I forced myself to wait 24 hours to photograph them again in better light. (Food bloggery is the enemy of instant gratification grr.)
This post has been shared on Phoenix Helix’s Paleo-AIP Roundtable.
OMgoodness! I’ve missed pot stickers so much since going GF and then on the AIP. Can not wait to make these. Must finish current fast, but these will be mine tomorrow.
I cannot believe you found a way to make AIP potstickers! They are one of my biggest temptations! I am excited to try these!!! Thanks!!!
I made these tonight and I must say that I *really* prefer your original recipe. I used Otto’s cassava flour and Organic Gemini tigernut flour and both my partner and I found them much too bready, grainy, and heavy overall. We both adore the other recipe and will keep using that one forever. Like you mentioned, it could be the brands used…but either way, I would recommend the first version to everyone, especially for the first try. Thanks so much for taking the time to create these recipes — it makes all the difference in an AIPer’s life!
Okay thanks Alison, that’s good to know! Hard to figure out how to standardize these recipes so they work for everyone with all the alternative flour variability – am doing some more troubleshooting and will update soon with advice for specific brands. In the meantime, the original recipe for those interested was 1 c tigernut, 1 c cassava, 1/2 c tapioca, and starting w/ 3/4 c water (everything else the same).
Hi Julie,
I went back to your old recipe here, it shows different recipe than the ones you listed above (1 c tigernut, 1 c cassava, 1/2 c tapioca, and starting w/ 3/4 c water)
https://www.flashfictionkitchen.com/korean-mandoo-dumplings-paleo-aip/
Dough
1 – 1.25 c tapioca flour or arrowroot starch
¾ c tigernut flour
1 tb olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
½ c hot/boiled water
Could you please let me know which one I should follow for the first try?
Love your blog and thanks for sharing!
Hi Ashley – I’ve had different results with different AIP flour brands, so my top rec is to try the alternate recipe with the whole cassava above – otherwise I generally prefer the flavor/texture when cassava flour is mixed in (so this recipe versus the old one) – worth experimenting tho and trying different variations til you find the one that works best for you!
Hello! I have a question, tapioca flour is the same as cassava starch?
Hi Rossana, tapioca flour is starch from the cassava plant, but it’s different from cassava flour which retains the fiber and other elements of the plant. Sometimes tapioca starch is called harina de yuca though, and cassava flour can be too, which is confusing…
I am sensitive to both Cassava flour and tapioca starch, which is very difficult as these are used frequently in AIP cooking and baking. Are there any substitutions that I could use for those in this particular recipe?
Hi Erica, for tapioca starch you can try arrowroot which is a pretty close 1:1 sub; cassava is a bit trickier, if you’re using AIP flours only you could try a mixture of plantain/green banana/coconut and/or a whole starch like taro or sweet potato, along with tigernut (which acts more like a nut flour or tapioca as a binder). If you can do paleo nut flours those might also work. I would just experiment and use a mix of multiple flours rather than just one for better results.