Nekkid Potstickers Bring Asian Comfort to Low Carb and Paleo Lovers

Low Carb Potstickers served with Low Carb Chicken Lo Mein
are soy free, sugar free and healthy.

What on earth can we eat on low carb? Navigating through the mine fields of food selection can be tricky for those of us following a low carb or Paleo lifestyle. It’s difficult enough in the grocery store, but dining out makes food choices and food selections even harder.

You might “think” you’re adhering to special low carb or Paleo limits, but because the restaurant may add ingredients of which you might be unaware, it makes dining out dicey.

Making good food choices while dining out gets even harder when expanding your palette to include cuisines with exotic flavors and flare, such as Asian foods. And on top of all that, when you add other health needs such as thyroid disorders, type 2 diabetes or cancer recovery, food selection becomes a very windey, very narrow, steep path - uphill.

For instance, take this edict I received upon the successful completion of treatment for
advanced breast cancer. I have so many special food needs, it’s a dang wonder anything goes in my mouth at all!

Click image to enlarge.

I graduated from “Cancer U” (University of Cancer – Houston Campus) with a provisional clean bill of health and was instructed to move forward, live life to the fullest, exercise daily (except on Sunday), and lose weight. That was my prescription.

But as in the 10 Commandments, there was also an edict that superseded all other edicts, a so-called 11th Commandment. In the Bible that 11th Commandment is to “Love others as I have loved you.” In the Land of Hormone Positive Cancer, the equivalent commandment reads something like:

 “Thou shalt eat no soy. Forever. There will be hell to pay if thou doest.”

~ The WOnc (The Wizard of Oncology)

Ok, so I might be dramatizing this a little bit.

Nah!

Me? Dramatize? Pshhhhaw! Go on!

BreastCancer.org helps make sense of
breast cancer jargon!

What the Wizard really said is that a casual bite of soy, here or there, won’t be enough to influence hormonal balance. But that I should seek to limit soy consumption in all forms, most especially forms that include soy proteins and soy isolates.

The Wizard, who wrote the book on breast cancer, says the studies coming in are still too controversial and contradictory and there is no clear evidence to support consumption or avoidance. Because of this, his “best practices standard of care” necessitates he and his patients err on the side of caution.

Caution translates specifically to, “Hey, you! Stupid! Do not eat the soy! You don’t need to know why! Because I said so!”

And hey, I think most soy – especially GMO soy that’s grown in the US – isn’t fit for rats, much less human consumption…I have no problem with that.

I’m not alone in this fight! According to BreastCancer.org, 80% of all diagnosed breast cancers are estrogen-receptor positive. Of that 80%, 65% are also progesterone-receptor positive. Hormone-receptor positive breast cancers are by far, the most common, but they also carry the highest rate of recurrence. That’s not surprising given the amount of estrogen and other hormone disrupting chemicals flooding our food web and polluting our environment. Why consume more estrogens through the phytoestrogens in soy, unnecessarily?

And believe me, I’m THOROUGHLY joyful to be dating NED (No Evidence of Disease) for today. So please trust that my whining is just the punk-a** little spoiled bratty mewling of a DFSW (Delicate Flower of Southern Womanhood) who can’t have her way – with Chinese or Asian food any longer. What a small price to pay for remission, yeah?

After all that beatin’ around the bush, what it boils down to in plain Texanese is…eating out in Asian restaurants is a no-go for me. Not only are most Asian dishes packed with high carb corn starch or arrowroot, rice flours, and other hidden high glycemic carb sources, but Asian cuisine figures out a way to stuff sugar into every nook and cranny of a recipe – even when it’s savory and doesn’t taste like there’s a spec of the white stuff lurking anywhere.

Coconut Aminos is a
delicious, fermented soy
substitute made from
fermented coconut sap.
Fluffy Chix buy theirs
from Netrition.

BUT, and the big but is, that Asian foods are also packed with soy – fermented and non-fermented. And that just sux. It does. It’s nearly impossible to eat out anywhere in the U.S. without soy contamination in our foods or food packaging. But if you add Asian cuisine into the mix, well – just stop the presses! It’s a no go.

I MISS splurging and going to eat Asian – Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese (hello sushi!!)! It just felt so “civilized” with the white table cloths, gracious waiters, old-world atmosphere with lilting music and soothing cool air – and the food! I’d get inspiration from dishes that fed the eye long before they fed the palette. Even though there were low carb pitfalls at every bend when dining out with Asian flare, I could usually navigate the treacherous terrain with a bit of talking to the waiters and knowing the chefs at our favorite places. But with the
Wizard’s Soy Embargo of 2011, I’m cut off as a general rule. Exceptions do occur, however.

The End.

It’s Time For Us To Say Sayonara!

Lucky for me, I found a work around.

It’s not perfect.

And there is dishwashing involved – dangit! There’s always a catch isn’t there?

Coconut Secret is a very innovative company, doing
great service for the low carb and Paleo communities.

Thanks to the good folks at Coconut Secret’s, who came up with a way of fermenting a minimally processed, living food called Coconut Aminos, soy-embargoed peeps can enjoy our favorite Asian dishes once again. Yay! Thah crahps ahhh say-uved!!! (Southern for “the crops will live long and prosper.”)

I’ll write a more thorough explanation of Coconut Aminos a bit later, and take you to Nutrition Nerdville should you feel inclined. But what you need to know now is…it’s time for us to play Make My Potsticker! That’s right! All the flavors you pine for from Brandy Ho’s, without added sugars or pesky soy polluting your low carb, Paleo world. Brilliant!

Nekkid Potstickers is an easy little recipe. I usually serve the Nekkid Potstickers along with a Low Carb Lo Mein or with Glucomannan Dumplings (a no-no if you’re Paleo), or else I serve them in butter lettuce cups with a spoon of Potsticker Dipping Sauce (see recipe below), fresh Asian Quick Pickles, slivered cabbage and fresh herb condiments such as Thai basil and cilantro. Oh, and don’t forget the fresh sliced chiles!

Rooster Sauce, Sambal Oelek, or hot mustard makes great, but superfluous companions.

Nekkid Potstickers

Nekkid Potstickers taste so great, you won't miss the
high glycemic dumpling wrappers!

Serves – 4 to 6
Prep Time – 15 Minutes
Cook Time – 15 Minutes
Difficulty – Easy Peasy

Ingredients
1-1/2lbs Pork, ground (or Ground Turkey or Beef)
1/2c Onion, chopped finely
1/2c Green Onions, whites and greens, chopped finely
1/3c Red Bell Pepper, chopped finely
1 Serrano Pepper, skinned and minced
1 Jalapeno Pepper, chopped finely with seeds (Optional)
1/4c Cilantro, chopped finely (Optional)
2 Tbsp Ginger, fresh, grated
4 cloves Garlic, pressed or minced
2 Tbsp White Wine, dry (Dry Vermouth preferred)
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce* (Coconut Aminos preferred as a sub)
2 Tbsp Chia Seed (or 2 Egg Whites)
1 tsp Black Pepper, freshly Ground
½ tsp Kosher Salt
2 Tbsp Olive Oil, for pan frying

(*About the Soy Sauce in this recipe - I know, I told you I have to avoid soy in all forms, but I list it here. What gives? Well, I recognize that most people will simply use soy sauce. That's ok. It's your decision to make. If you WANT to sub out the soy sauce for Coconut Aminos, it is a 1:1 substitution! But please know, Coconut Aminos do have carbohydrate in them - 1c/teaspoon. I personally think the sugar from coconut sap fermentation is probably all used up in the fermentation process. But CA label reads 1c/tsp, so make your own choice!)

Combine wet and dry ingredients, except olive oil and pork. Stir to combine.

Crumble pork into mixed veggies and spices.

With the tines of a fork, gently work the pork into the mixture to combine, just like we did in the Turkey Meatball recipe. Don’t overwork it!

Here's what it looks like combined.

Portion into 24 balls approximately 1 ounce each. Don’t stress about it! Make ‘em about the size of a golfball!

Place 1 tablespoon olive oil into a non-stick pan and pan sauté potstickers for about 2 to 3 minutes per side over medium high heat. (I cook outdoors because the smells from cooking exacerbate asthma. Sux to be me sometimes! But you can cook these indoors the exact same timing and cooking method using your stove top!) 

Turn them and cook 2 minutes on the remaining side.

Turn them again and pretend there is a 3rd and 4th side, even though they are round. Cook for about 1-2 minutes on each of those side.

Cook until completely done – about 6-8 minutes. If they get too brown, remove them from the stovetop and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for about 5-8 minutes until cooked through (no pink).

Alternate Cooking Method - Preheat oven to 350°. Cover baking sheet with non-stick aluminum foil. Place Nekkid Potstickers on pan and spray with Olive Oil Cooking Tray. Cook for 10 minutes. Turn Potstickers over and cook another 10 minutes or until done completely - no pink.

Drain on paper towels and serve with dipping sauce.


Dipping Sauce for Nekkid Potstickers
Serves - 3/4 Cup, about 2Tbsp per Serving
Prep Time - 5 Minutes
Cook Time - None
Difficulty - Depends. Can you measure?

I swear! I wasn't on crack or drinking. But what a dippy
photo - so blurry! Apologies. :)

Ingredients
1/4c Rice Wine Vinegar
1/4c Soy Sauce*
1/4c Water
1-2 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp Sambal Oelek
2 Large Green Onions
1 clove Garlic, pressed
1 Tbsp Ginger, grated
1 pinch Stevia (NuNaturals or Sweet Leaf Preferred)

Stir all ingredients together and serve drizzled over Nekkid Potstickers.

*See the note about Soy Sauce in the recipe above for Nekkid Potstickers.

Nutritional Information
Nekkid Potstickers – Full Recipe

Nekkid Potstickers – Single Serving (1 Potsticker)

Dipping Sauce – Full Recipe

Dipping Sauce – Single Serving (2 Tbsp)

SusieT Notes –

This is another YOI recipe (You Own It). We readily admit that chiles are king around these parts. Heck yeah, we're from Texas and love spicy food!

But there is a lot of heat in this recipe so you might want to dial it back until you know your limit! You can omit one or both of the chiles or cut the amount of sambal oelek or omit it, or reduce the amount of black pepper. Your choice! Make it your recipe! YOI!

Asian Comfort Food with capital letters and low carb,
Paleo friendly and diabetic friendly too!

Also, with regards to soy. I don’t eat it. But I recognize the majority of the world does eat soy or fermented soy like Tamari! Use your preference!

I showed soy sauce in the recipe because most people are gonna have that and not have Coconut Aminos, which is a natural soy sauce substitute made of fermented coconut sap.

You can sometimes find Coconut Aminos in the stores, but often must order it online and that’s a hassle. I admit it! Yesterday, we made a special trip to Whole Foods to buy some more, but they were out! Blech. Oh well. I will simply place an order with Netrition today and go from there.

Now as mentioned in the pre-amble of the post (Yeah, that’s the part where I talk for miles and miles and make y’all crazy with boredom...), I mentioned how we like to serve the Nekkid Potstickers. I love them in butter lettuce cups with a bit of cilantro, slivered cabbage and some dipping sauce! Or I also love making Glucomannan Dumplings, but that’s an individual taste, cuz Denny and the boys totally gak over Glucomannan! Sometimes I'm really Susie-On-The-Job and make homemade Asian Quick Pickles, but that's another recipe for another day!

Eat them on their own. They are yummy. I broke down the nutritional information into single potstickers for your convenience. That way, you can choose how many of them you want to eat as a serving!