After I cleaned my kitchen, I immediately had a craving for some Chinese food. I have taken a vow of not eating out for awhile since I’ve been so horribly bad at it for the past 2 weeks. I had a craving for this Mongolian stirfry and some potstickers I’d had recently. Online I went to my fave recipe website: Recipezaar. 

I found these two recipes: Heather’s Stir Fry Sauce and Potstickers. I couldn’t find a good recipe for the Mongolian stir fry I’d had. Anyone out there have one? But it was delicious with a tasty light sauce. This stir fry sauce while good, was a bit thicker and juicier than I would have preferred. Maybe a bit less cornstarch next time? 

Anyhow, I’m concentrating on the potstickers in this post. Don’t they look yummy?

Print out the recipe and come back here for the step-by-step. You won’t regret it (at least I didn’t). 

Here are the ingredients for this tasty dish. 

The basic ingredients: black pepper, salt, 1 beaten egg, dry sherry (used as a substitute for rice wine), sesame oil, minced garlic, soy sauce, chicken broth, corn starch, and 1lb of ground pork. You’re going to need some wonton wrappers later on. Make sure to have some ready. Now you’re going to mix everything together in a bowl, except for the chicken broth.
 

Here’s what is in the bowl: 1 lb of ground pork, 1 tbs soy sauce, 2 tsps rice wine or dry sherry, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 2 tsp garlic clove, 1 beaten egg, 1 tbs cornstarch, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper. The receipe called for 2 chopped green onions. I don’t like them so I omitted them. I should have added a little onion powder to this but forgot. Mix this together really well with your hands. They will get nasty yucky, but that’s what water was created for right? To wash your hands. 

Find your wonton wrappers…
 

and get ready to fill them with a tsp of the pork mixture. The recipe calls for a tablespoon, but these wrappers were kind of small. So, I had to scale that back.
 

I purchased this great looking little gyoza thing from Ichiban Kan. It seems to work great…if the wonton wrapper is large enough. So I ended up doing these by hand. Anyhow…place the measured out pork mixture in the center of the wrapper, moisten the wrapper along the outside edges with water, and then fold in half and press the edges to seal.
 

One potsticker filled, folded, and sealed.
 

All of them filled, folded, and sealed. Now we’re ready to cook. 

Place a 1tbs of peanut oil into a pan on medium high heat. Let the oil heat a bit. Then place your potstickers in the pan and brown on each side.

Once browned, pour 1/2 cup of chicken stock/broth into the pan, cover with a lid, and lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 8 minutes. Do this browning/simmering process to all the potstickers. 

Once done place them all onto a plate… 

And admire them. Then pop one in your mouth and realize all that filling, folding, and sealing was worth the trouble. And remember to buy larger wonton wrappers next time! Or make some of your own. This is the recipe I plan to try out for wonton wrappers. 

Potstickers 

Ingredients:
1 package of wonton wrappers
1 lb of ground pork or chicken
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten egg
2 tsps dry sherry or rice wine
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs corn starch
Water in small bowl for sealing edges of wonton wrappers
1/4-1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1-2 tablespoons peanut oil 

Recipe Steps:

1. Mix the following ingredients in a bowl: meat, soy sauce, rice wine or dry sherry, sesame oil, garlic, egg, cornstarch, salt, and pepper.
2. With your hands, mix all ingredients together.
3. Place a teaspoon of the meat mixture in center of the wonton wrapper.
4. Dip two fingers in your small bowl of water.
5. Using your dampened fingers, moisten the edges of the wonton wrapper.
6. Fold the wrapper in half diagonally and press the edges together to seal.
7. Continue steps 2-6 until all wonton wrappers are filled or you run out of filling…whichever comes first.
8. Heat peanut oil in a pan on medium high heat.
9. Once the oil is heated and shimmering, place your potstickers in the pan and brown on each side.
10. Once potsitckers are browned, pour 1/2 cup of vegetable or chicken broth into the pan.
11. Cover the pan with a lid and lower the heat to a simmer.
12. Simmer for 8 minutes.
13. Repeat steps 8-12 until all potstickers are cooked.

To freeze, lay postickers out individually on a large baking sheet. Place in freezer for an hour until frozen. Transfer to a ziploc bag. Use within a month of freezing.