potsticker recipes

[whynotkay]

I've been experimenting with making vegetarian potstickers recently (insides from scratch, store-bought wrappers). I have the old tried and true pork and napa filling, from Fred, my (Chinese) ex, and have been making variations of "Frances' Vegetarian Dumpling Filling". I'm including the recipes here with my notes, just in case anyone else gets inspired (or I lose them).




Fred's meat filling:

• .5-1 lb ground pork (beef or turkey are usable as well)
• .5 head of napa cabbage (chopped in a food processor)
• 1 Tbsp sherry (white wine ok)
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 3-4 stalks of chopped scallion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar

Mix together, drain out excess water if any. Makes about two packages (72 potstickers).

Frances' vegetarian filling:
Finely mince and mix together the following:

• 1 package of pressed tofu (tofu gan)-there are usually 4 squares in a package, with each square about 2 inches in diameter and ½ inch thick
• 2 carrots (optional)
• 1 small 8 oz. can of water chestnuts-drained, rinsed, and mince. Note: my food processor mushed, not minced, these.
• 1 bunch of spinach or ¼ head Chinese/Napa or American cabbage-washed and dried (very important that the leaves are dry or else you will end up with green mush) and minced carefully in small batches in food processor. Note: I used two bunches of spinach the first time I made this recipe, and that seemed proportionally correct. The food processor worked well for this.
• 4 green onions or 1 one rice bowl full of finely chopped Chinese leek/chives/jiu cai (do not use Chinese chives if you are using spinach). Note: I used an entire bunch of jiu cai, and that seemed about right. The food processor totally choken on these, so we hand chopped them.
• 2-4 cloves garlic
• ½ bunch cilantro leaves (optional)
• Shitake mushrooms (I used about a pint?). The original recipe said 6-8 mushrooms.
• One small package of bean thread vermicelli, rehydrated and then cut into tiny pieces.
• 1 raw egg (I used egg white only, so had yolk to seal wrappers).
• 2 Tbl soy sauce
• 2 Tbl cornstarch (I skipped)
• 1 Tbl sesame oil
• 1 tsp salt

If there is excess water in the bottom of the bowl, tilt the bowl to drain the water away from the filling. Mix together, drain out excess water if any. Makes about a gazillion potstickers (maybe four packages or more). Excess filling fries up well with egg for a different sort of tasty meal.


Stuffing and cooking the potstickers:

Once the filling has been assembled, veggie and meat potstickers are made the same way. Place in wrappers (the more filling the better... but the harder it will be to seal them), and then form potstickers out of them. This involves taking the wrapper in one hand, moistening half of the outer portion with a mixture of egg-yolk and water, folding the wrapper in half, and then adding three folds to one side while pinching the two sides together. This video that kind of shows this, but I use a slightly different technique to make the folds (I make them on the underside, holding the wrapper in my hand).

Once they have all been made, place some oil in a non-stick pan, heat up the pan, and arrange the potstickers in the pan (so they fry a little bit as you arrange them). I try to put as many in the pan as possible, arranged in a circular pattern. Then pour in water (3/4 cup?) and let them continue cooking until the water is gone. Keep them moving in the pan is the water boils off, so they don't stick too much. Remove carefully (if the pan is non-stick enough, and you are lucky, it should be possible to flip the pan upside down onto a plate and have the potstickers all come out together, still arranged nicely).