Pot Stickers

[jennyema]

that was 64 years ago

Woops, when I thought it was 4 years ago I was going to ask you for the name of the place!

 

[Chausiubao]

our personal family recipe for dumplings has a equal amounts of pork and garlic chives flavored with sesame seed and oil. It also has some flour to give the meat and chive combination form and shape. Generally we just use the premade potsticker wrappers since we mass produce so many of them it takes a day to do them all.

But its very simple, a pound of garlic chives, a pound of pork, a couple tsp. of salt, and a few tbsp. of soy sauce. Enough flour to give it loose structure, and its pretty much done. Then all you have to do is seal them inside the wrappers with some egg white.

Its a very familial and community project.

You could cut the chicken meat into pieces then take a cleaver and just cut it up. And by cut I mean whack away at that chicken meat then flip some of it and do it again until its nice and ground.

 

[mish]

Mish,

Will get the recipe for you, but it probably won't have exact measurements.

My favorite chinese dumpling is a Shanghai soup dumpling. To make them, you enclose a cube of gellied broth, then stema them. When you eat them, a soup spoon full of soup squirts out.

TIA, jenny.

A squirting dumpling? Do I serve this with a rubber chicken and a dribble glass? j/k, Jenny. Will have to look for those as well. Thank you.

 

[TomW]

Back to the drawing board

... Perhaps the Boyz' favorite food (when in nugget form) can come to the rescue.

I knew by the non-bland aroma of the ingredients being mixed that I had embarked on yet another culinary excersise doomed to failure. No one touched the chicken post stickers in spite of using fresh-ground chicken in the mix. But I thought they were great!

As you can see in the picture below, this round of pot stickers were formed with two wonton skins sealed with a Pampered Chef dumpling sealer. The hope was that maybe a different presentation would help. Unfortunately, my rose of a different color approach fooled no one.

On the bright side, since I was suspecting this might happen, some wonton soup was also prepared. For this soup, the wontons were stuffed only with a small piece of chicken breast meat. My wife gave it a thumbs up.

Tom

 

[QSis]

Well, like most new cooking adventures, I started with an Internet search, and stopped with this link. Those are Teri's notes pictured in the opening post.

Having a particular flavor in mind, I substituted Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage for the pork, and regular cabbage for the Napa (because the grocer was out of Napa). After failing to locate either rice wine or dry sherry (time for a new grocer ), the item was omitted.

I was struck by the "that's the flavor I like" sensation in the final product that was obviously a result of the cabbage.

While I am sure some purists may take exception to my use of "flavored pork", this is a dish worth repeating.

Tom

Tom, I made the recipe in your first link, except that I used just regular ground pork, and added 1/2 cup chopped green onion.

They were absolutely DELICIOUS, but the wonton wrappers were so fragile that a lot of them tore. Did that happen to you?

I also made Emeril's Potsticker Dipping Sauce, but thought my storebought dumpling sauce was better.

Making these things is certainly cost effective, but for the work involved, I'm going to buy the frozen ones next time.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Lee

 

[thumpershere2]

I have been buying the packaged cabbage used to make cole slaw for my egg rolls and dumplings or potstickers.Cuts alot of time off. I brown the meast usually pork and chopped onions and and then add the bagged cabbage,(it has carrots in it also)S/P and add Five spice seasoning,Cook until cabbage has cooked down a little about 8 min. Can also add a tlb of red wine vinneger. Put about a tlb on a wan ton wrapper and roll or shape to what ever you like, seal with egg and water mixture. (1 egg and 1 tlb of water mixed) and deepfry. I freeze seperatly and then wrap in a food saver bag when completely frozen.

 

[TomW]

... the wonton wrappers were so fragile that a lot of them tore. Did that happen to you?

A few of them tore, but not enough to get frustrated. I assume "practice makes perfect"

Using them as potstickers, the tears were not bad enough to really hurt anything as the browning process seemed to keep the delicacy intact. In wonton soup, though, tear-free wontons would appear to be more critical.

In a another follow up to the chicken story, I tried frying some of the stuffed double-wontons. Very tasty, and the edges had a nice "crunch" factor. The last of them, in one last experiment, were boiled in home made chicken stock.

Too doughy. And I could have used sawdust instead of chicken & attained the same flavor/texture.

Tom

 

[Vicious Vaness]

Costco's are good but not as good as home made IMHO but then I get my fingers into dough every chance I get! lol

Agreed. I made potstickers for new years. (The actual 2006 new year, not the lunar new year). I had a batch that was left over so I froze it. I make two versions of potstickers: pork & cabbage and seafood. I make my own dipping sauce also. I also like it with chinese rice vinegar (red or black).

 

[Dina]

I make pot stickers Tom although I don't make the wontons from scratch. I cheat and buy them already made. The filling is ground pork, green onions, fresh chopped garlic and ginger browned in sesame oil. I steam mine in a bit of water and then dip in a mixture of soy sauce and sesame oil. They're very yummy.

 

[TomW]

Too bland to me if made the regular way

One day last week I made some pot stickers with Italian Sausage and, like the sage sausage version mentioned earlier in this thread, thought the meal had a wonderful flavor.

Yesterday, I found a grocer who sold me both Napa cabbage & ground pork, and made a batch of pot stickers. They were good. But they definitely needed a dipping sauce as, by themselves, I found them to be a bit bland. Not being a dipping sauce kind of eater, I believe I will probably stick with "flavored pork" pot stickers.

Tom

 

[Chausiubao]

why don't u just flavor the sausage + cabbage that ur wrapping?

 

[Dina]

Just had to brag...my daughter's best friend happens to be Korean and her mom makes the best pot stickers ever! That Korean lady has been spoiling us with all of her delicious Korean food.

 

[TomW]

Dina - Do you think your daughter might be able to get her recipe?

Tom

 

[Dina]

Absolutely Tom! I've made them before myself except I buy the already made dough wrappings (don't remember what they're called) and make a mixture of browned ground pork, ginger, garlic, green onions, and chopped green beans. I will ask Mrs. Choi for her recipe for you...and me.

 

[subfuscpersona]

could anyone post a TNT recipe for dough for the wrappers?

 

[Dina]

Did a search and this is what I found although the serving size may not be correct. This recipe makes about 24 pieces.

Title: POT STICKER DOUGH
Categories: Chinese, Appetizers
Yield: 1 servings

2 c All-purpose flour
1/2 c Water

In a bowl, combine flour and water, mixing to form a
ball. Remove to a floured board and knead with palm
of hand for about 3 minutes. Shape into a ball, cover
with damp towel, and let stand for about 10 minutes.

To shape and assemble, knead dough for about 3
minutes. Shape into a ball, cover with damp towel,
and let stand for about 10 minutes.

To shape and assemble, knead dough for about 3
minutes. Roll into a cylinder that is about 1-inch in
diameter. Cut off ends, then cut into about 24
pieces, each 1/4-inch wide. With a cut side up, press
dough down with palm to flatten. Roll with a rolling
pin to make pancakes about 2-1/2-inch in diameter.

NOTE: A pasta machine can be used to roll out dough.
Roll to No. 4 setting on machine, or about 1/32nd of
an inch. Cut dough with a 2-1/2-inch cookie cutter
(or a glass, inverted tuna can, etc.)

SOURCE: Adapted from "Chef Chu's Distinctive Cuisine
of China"

 

[TomW]

Monster Pot Stickers

I tried something the other night worth passing on.

Instead of stuffing 30 or so wontons with a pork/cabbage mixture, I used six, 6-inch, flour tortillas instead. Being thicker, the tortillas were a bit harder to work with, but the time saved in making six monster pot stickers instead of 30 regular-sized ones made it worth the extra effort.

Browning & steaming took about the same amount of time as regular pot stickers, and the monster ones had the same flavor.

Tom

 

[GB]

Tom that is very interesting. What a cool idea.

 

[advoca]

I believe that Potstickers originally came from China where they are known as Jaozi (Jow zer). There is a some interesting information and recipes to be found at http://dinnercoop.cs.cmu.edu/dinnercoop/Recipes/karen/JiaoZi-duplicate.html

They are freely available in Beijing. Every supermarket sells many varieties (veg, pork, and beef) ready made in deep-freeze self-service baskets. Most people boil them but I like to fry them after boiling.

 

[ironchef]

I tried something the other night worth passing on.

Instead of stuffing 30 or so wontons with a pork/cabbage mixture, I used six, 6-inch, flour tortillas instead. Being thicker, the tortillas were a bit harder to work with, but the time saved in making six monster pot stickers instead of 30 regular-sized ones made it worth the extra effort.

Browning & steaming took about the same amount of time as regular pot stickers, and the monster ones had the same flavor.

Tom

If you're heading down that road, try making or finding Mandarin-style pancakes to wrap the filling in. That's basically a wrapper for mu shu pork or Peking duck.