Leek and Mushroom Pot Sticker Soup

_INGREDIENTS:

POT STICKERS:

• 25 store bought dumpling wrappers
• 1 Tbsp Sesame oil 
• 200g swiss brown mushrooms, finely diced
• 200g white part of the leek +
• Green leek leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ Tbsp ginger minced

BROTH:

• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil 
• 4 cloves garlic, minced 
• 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced 
• 1.5L vegetable stock 
• 4 mushrooms, sliced 
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce 
• 2 cups roughly chopped greens- Spinach, Bok Choy or Kale 
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil 
• 1.5 tsp chili oil 
• Black pepper and salt to taste 

INSTRUCTIONS:

‍To make the pot sticker dumplings:

1. Prepare your leek - chop off the dark leafy green head of the leek and set aside. Finely dice the white part of the leek into smaller pieces and place into a sieve or colander to rinse off under cold water (there’s often a bit of dirt hiding in this bit, don’t be alarmed, it’s as nature intended!) Shake off the excess water and set aside. Then dice the green leaves, and rinse these off too, shaking off the excess water when done.
2. Dice the mushrooms and mince the ginger and garlic.
3. Heat a large frying pan to medium heat with 1 Tbsp sesame oil. Add the ginger, garlic, chopped white leeks, diced mushrooms and 150g of the green leek leaves to the pan (save the remaining leek leaves to add to the broth later) 
4. Sauté leek until soft, approximately 7-10 minutes, stirring often. Add in the soy sauce then set aside to cool. This is your filling mixture.
5. Fill a small bowl with water, and get your dumpling wrappers ready for filling on a smooth, clean surface.
6. Once the filling mixture has cooled, spoon a heaped teaspoon into the center of each dumpling wrapper.  To seal the pot stickers, use your index finger to wet the upper inside half of the pot sticker skin and then fold over the filling and press the two edges together to ensure an airtight seal. Once the dumplings are tightly closed, you can leave them like this or get fancy and add pleats if you wish (see notes on how to do this at the bottom of the recipe).
7. Place the pot stickers onto a tray in a single layer, careful to make sure they aren’t on top of each other as they will stick.

‍To prepare the broth:

1. Mince the garlic and ginger and slice the mushrooms. 
2. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to a large deep pot. When the oil is hot, add the ginger, garlic and mushrooms. Sauté for 2-3 minutes ensuring the ginger and garlic don’t burn. 
3. Add 2 Tbsp soy sauce and 1500ml vegetable stock to the pot. Add in the remaining chopped and washed dark green leek leaves (you want about 1 cup). Bring the broth to a boil. 
4. When the broth is boiling gently, add in the pot sticker dumplings. Bring back to the boil and cook the dumplings for 4-5 minutes. Add in 1 Tbsp sesame oil, 1.5 tsp chili oil and season with black pepper and salt to taste. 
5. Remove broth from the heat. Stir in the chopped greens. You can use Spinach, Kale, or Bok choy. (If using Bok choy, you might want to add the tough ends of the Bok choy to the broth at the same time as the leek leaves so that they soften, but reserve the softer leaf tops to add at the end)

To serve: Divide the soup between 4-5 bowls. Best served immediately.

‍To pleat the pot stickers: Starting from one end of the sealed half-circle, pinch and fold small pleats along the sealed edge. Press each pleat firmly to secure it - you’ll want to make sure they are tightly sealed to prevent the filling from leaking during cooking.

Continue pleating until you reach the other end of the half-circle.

Repeat the process with the remaining wrappers and filling.