First-time Potstickers Demo and Recipe

This Sunday is Chinese New Year (go tigers!) so I thought I’d post a video of a Chinese dish. Potstickers are one of my favorite things to order at restaurants but I’ve never made them at home. My mom never made them either; she only taught me how to make won tons. But we loved eating potstickers, which we call “wor teep” in Cantonese.

Potstickers aren’t necessarily a traditional new year dish, but some families do like to serve them because they look like money and the Chinese love to think about money for the new year – and the kids love em too (potstickers that is, although kids love money I guess).

I’ve seen chefs demonstrating how to make potstickers (aka gyoza in Japanese) and it always looked so easy. So here’s my video, when I make potstickers for the very first time. Check it out to see how they turn out on my very first try. And then make some for your family this lunar new year. Enjoy! (BTW, I apologize for sounding so dead in the first few minutes of the video. And I don't know what's happening in that frozen image of the video clip below! Damn you YouTube!)



Pork-Leek Potstickers

Copyright 2010 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground pork
1 large leek, rinsed and diced (about 2-3 cups)
1/2 cup water chestnuts, finely diced
2-3 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated and finely diced
3 T soy sauce
1 T Xiao Hsing rice wine or cooking sherry (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 package potsticker wrappers (50 count)

Combine and blend well all the ingredients (except the wrappers) to make the filling. Then fold your potstickers by placing a wrapper in one hand and using a spoon to scoop about a tablespoon of filling into the wrapper.

Create an egg wash with one egg and a bit of water. Use the egg wash to help seal your potsticker by dabbing the egg wash on the edge of the wrapper.

After you placed the filling and egg wash, fold over to create a half moon. Then crimp your potsticker from the middle, pinching three times along one side then doing the same from the middle on the other side. (The pinching is like your folding a bit of the edge over each other. This helps shape your potsticker more like a half moon.) Make sure you have a flat bottom.

In a non-stick saucepan with cover, warm about 2 tablespoon of oil over medium high heat. Place your potstickers to brown the bottom for about 2-3 minutes, depending on the heat of your stovetop. Don’t move your potstickers. Pour about 3/4 cup to 1 cup of water and immediately cover pan because the oil will splatter.

Cook covered for 8 to 10 minutes. To make sure your potstickers are done, cut one open to check. If the water dries out before your potstickers are cooked, add a bit more water. If the potstickers are done but you still have a lot of water, pour the water out.

When your potstickers are cooked and water is nearly evaporated, cook for another minute uncovered to allow the potstickers to get crispy on the bottom again. But watch to make sure you don’t blacken your potstickers.

Freeze any potstickers you don’t cook. When you take them out from the freezer, you may need to cook them a couple of minutes longer.

Plate your potstickers and serve with a dipping sauce like red rice wine vinegar.

Makes 50 potstickers.

TIP: When buying potsticker wrappers, it’ll be in the refrigerated section of the Asian grocery store or Asian food aisle of the market. The wrappers are round and are labeled either potstickers or gyoza. You can also use leftover potsticker wrappers to make ravioli.

View more videos:
Spam, the Sequel: Fried Rice
Dinner Fast: Black Bean Clams
Making Won Tons