Pork Potstickers
Happy New Year!
When my kids were in kindergarten, they started getting red envelopes from friends with money inside for the Lunar New Year. The red symbolizes good luck and is to ward off evil spirits. In China, dumplings (potstickers) are served as the first meal of the year because they symbolize wealth. My youngest son loves potstickers so much that his birthday meal, which always falls around the Lunar New Year, is usually based on a restaurant with great potstickers. 7 years ago we found a great hole in the wall place we love. On the Lunar New Year, we get take out from here which usually consists of their potstickers and some type of noodle dish which symbolizes a long life. Years ago my aunt, Marcia, emailed me saying, “You should make your own. It’s easy.” She had a great recipe from a friend of a friend. I thought she was crazy. But she was right, they aren’t hard, it’s just time consuming. This past weekend, my son wanted to make them again. I supervised the making of them and then he observed my hubby frying them. On Tuesday night, he did it all by himself. I could tell he was nervous about the frying part but he did a fantastic job. Even he thought they looked like “legit restaurant quality”.
Pork Potstickers
Filling:
¼ lb. green onions
½ cup Chinese Cabbage
1 pkg. Dumpling skins
Mix filling ingredients together ahead of time to let it marinate in the refrigerator.
Have a small bowl of water. Fill skins with about ½ Tablespoon or so of meat mixture. Dip your finger in the water and wet ½ the skin round, press together with a dumpling press or pinch the edges together and fold.
Heat pan and 2 Tablespoons of oil. Fry pot stickers until brown and crisp on the side. Add 1/3 – 1/2 cup of water to the pan. Cover the pan tightly and steam 10-15 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking until all the liquid is absorbed.
Serve with rice and your choice of dipping sauce.
Kelly’s Notes:
I like to add ¼ cup shredded carrots to the meat mixture.
If you don’t want to fry the potstickers, you can steam them.