Potstickers (Chinese Dumplings)

Hello foodie friends!

Today I made one of my favourite foods - Potstickers which are simply Chinese Dumplings. They are either pan fried one side and steamed or steamed. These are so good when dipped into a ginger soy sauce. The potstickers are golden and crispy on the bottom and the top part is steamed. If it is overcooked it will be dry. Cooked properly, the dumplings will melt into your mouth because of the juiciness of the pork and the silky chewy texture of the wrapper.

I used to go to Sunnybank (Brisbane, QLD Australia - a large Chinese community) all the time to eat these yummy potstickers. It was ritual to travel 35 minutes to Sunnybank Plaza just to buy 2 chinese takeaway containers of potstickers for around $10. And then washed down with a cool milk grass jelly drink from the bubble tea bar for $5. I was satisfied after that. Now I live much too far away to get potstickers :(. So I made it myself. Surprisingly it tasted nearly the same! WOOO!

The ingredients in the recipe may look overwhelming these are so easy to prepare. I have already have everything else on hand except for the ground mince pork and the shallots! I made my own potstick dough instead of buying the white won-ton wrappers.

There are so many variations of potstickers that you can have from vegetarian, pork, prawns and seafood. I just prefer mine with pork cause its nice a juicy and fatty!

PORK AND CHESTNUT POTSTICKERS

You will need: (TO MAKE 30 to 35 dumplings)

Potsticker dough: (you can always buy white wonton wrappers at the Asian grocer instead of making these)

- 2 cups of plain flour
- 1 cup of BOILING water
- extra flour for rolling

Pork Filling:

- 400gram of ground pork
- 1 TBS of oyster sauce
- 1 - 2 TBS of soy sauce
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp of white pepper
- 3 green shallots chopped
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 can of chest nuts (sliced in julienne)
- 3 garlic minced
- 1 TBS of ginger (slice in julienne)

Other:
- Oil for frying
- 1/2 cup water for steaming

Dipping Sauce

- 4 TBS of soy sauce
- ginger (julienne)
- chopped chilli
- minced garlic
- sesame oil

METHOD:

Potsticker dough:

- sift plain flour into medium sized bowl and add BOILING water. This will help the dough become elastic and smooth. Mix with wooden spoon until it becomes a dough. Now knead into soft dough on a floured surface. Roll out the dough into a 60 cm log and starting from the end cut 1.5cm pieces. Make it even so the wrappers will be the same size and consistent.

Pork filling:

- in a large bowl add all the sauces, salt, pepper, sesame oil, chest nuts, minced garlic, ginger, and shallots and mix until well incorporated. The mixture should be mushy. Leave for about 5 minutes to develop flavour.



Okay now to the fun part - the wrappers. On a flour surface roll out 1 piece of dough into a 7.5 cm circle. Make sure the dough is not too thin otherwise the pork will break through. Place a spoonful of the pork mixture into the centre of the circle. Now take the ends of the circles and pinch them together to make a half moon crescent shape. Then pinch 4 pleats to make a pouch (its just for presentation and to help close the filling properly). Repeat with the pork mixture and dough pieces.

The next part is to fry them. In a large skillet, heat up some oil (1-2 tbs) and add 15 dumplings flat side down (like in the photo below). Fry these for 2 minutes. Check to see if they become crispy and brown. At this stage add 1/2 cup of water, cover and cook for only 7 minutes or under. And repeat with remaining potsticks.




To make a dipping sauce, in a small bowl, mix soy sauce, ginger (julienne), chopped chilli, minced garlic and sesame oil. Serve with dumplings!

ENJOY!!! I KNOW I DID! NOM NOM NOM