POT STICKERS

Use red chili pesto as a sauce 

Fast Pot-Stickers

MARK BITTMAN

• YIELD
4 main-course or 8 appetizer servings

• TIME
1 hour

What can make pot-stickers a minimalist dish? One approach is called takeout and is already quite common. The alternative is using the wrappers now sold in just about every supermarket. Start with those, and a filling of ground pork (beef, chicken, turkey and lamb also work), cabbage, scallions, ginger and garlic. For a vegetarian pot-sticker, cabbage can dominate, complemented by chopped shiitakes, minced tofu, minced celery and carrots, chives or a combination. Wrap, seal and cook.

Featured in: The Minimalist; Dim Sum Without Dialing. 

Chinese, Cabbage, Dumpling Wrapper, Pork, Appetizer, Spring

Mark as Cooked 608 ratings

INGREDIENTS

• ¾ pound ground pork or other meat

• 1 cup minced cabbage

• 2 tablespoons minced ginger

• 1 tablespoons minced garlic

• 6 scallions, the white and green parts separated, both minced

• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons good soy sauce

• 48 dumpling wrappers

• 1 egg, lightly beaten in a bowl

• 4 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil, more or less

• ¼ cup rice vinegar or white vinegar

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PREPARATION

1 Combine meat, cabbage, ginger, garlic, scallion whites and 2 tablespoons soy sauce in a bowl with 1/4 cup water. Lay a wrapper on a clean, dry surface, and using your finger or a brush, spread a bit of egg along half of its circumference. Place a rounded teaspoon of filling in center, fold over and seal by pinching edges together. (Do not overfill.) Place dumplings on a plate; if you want to wait a few hours before cooking, cover plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Or freeze, for up to two weeks.

2 To cook, put about 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet and turn heat to medium-high. A minute later, add dumplings, one at a time; they can touch one another, but should still sit flat in one layer. Cook about 2 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned and most of the oil has been absorbed. Add 1/4 cup water per dozen dumplings to pan, and cover. Lower heat to medium, and let simmer about 3 minutes.

3 To make the dipping sauce, combine remaining soy sauce, green parts of scallions and vinegar.

4 Uncover dumplings, return heat to medium-high and cook another minute or two, until bottoms are dark brown and crisp and water evaporates. (Use more oil if necessary.) Serve hot, with sauce.

For a nice variation I use finely chopped raw shrimp (or you can lightly pulse it in a blender) rather than ground meats.

To lower the sodium blast inherent in soy sauce, you can also try blending 3/4 cup orange, apricot or peach marmalade with 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed citrus juice and 1 tablespoon of horseradish (more if you like extra heat) to make a delightful dipping sauce.

166 This is helpful

I always add sesame oil to the pork mixture, proportional to the amount of meat, maybe upwards of 2 tsp to a pound of meat (depends on how much you like sesame oil), plus some soy sauce.  Note - dabbing some water around the edge of the wrapper with a brush works just as well as egg to seal them and is a bit less messy.

100 This is helpful

I think covering the plate with plastic wrap BEFORE  putting the pot stickers on it is a good idea. I've had some stick to the plate, especially if you don't cook them right away.