Chinese Dumpling aka Potstickers Recipe

Today, cuisine from all over the world can be found in Singapore, including Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, and other international tastes. Eating in Singapore is an exciting and rich experience from the Fast food chains to the latest Japanese restaurants in the housing estates around the island, and are rising in popularity due to convenience and their family oriented style. To many Singaporeans, having sushi or sabu sabu in the Japanese restaurant and the Korean tabletop BBQ have become casual everyday fare. However, how many of us know how to duplicate and cook these food in our home kitchen without paying restaurant prices. The thought of preparing and cooking these popular restaurant dishes at home may be daunting with their parade of unfamiliar ingredients, but the actual cooking technique is relatively simple and easy. Besides tabletop butane burners, electric skillets specifically for these cooking are also easily available in most Asian stores. We bought our electric skillet in Tokyo twenty years ago, and we have been using it for our tabletop cookings and BBQs ever since. Last Saturday, we used it to cook pan-fried Chinese dumplings, also known as jiaozi (Mandarin), gau gee or gow gee (Cantonese) or gyoza (Japanese). Although it can be cooked as boiled jiaozi. I still prefer them pan-fried otherwise known as potstickers.



Chinese Dumpling aka Potstickers Recipe:

Filling;

500g ground pork
500g prawns deveined, coarsely minced
4 large napa cabbage leaves, minced
3 stalks green onions, minced
7 shitake mushrooms, minced (if dried - soaked with water until soften and rinsed)
1/4 cup ginger root, minced
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp corn starch

dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup warm water
flour for work surface

dipping sauce:

2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili finely chopped
minced ginger
minced garlic
minced green onion
sugar (optional)




Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Make the dough, In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch. Knead the dough about 15 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side.
Place dumplings in a frying pan or skillet with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.
To serve: Serve dumplings or potstickers hot with dipping sauce combinations.