I’m not an expert in Asian cuisine but I love to eat Asian food especially potstickers. So I decided to make homemade potstickers instead of buying the ones you can get in the freezing section at you local grocery store. And my verdict is: the homemade potstickers tasted better than the ones I buy at the grocery store, mainly because I was able to customize my filling with ingredients of my liking.

Since it was my very first attempt to do them myself, assembling the wrappers took me more time than needed because I took my time in order to make sure that the edges were properly sealed with no leak. However, as I was folding the dumplings, I became faster and stopped second guessing myself. So if you do your potstickers yourself, you will eventually gain in experience and insurance as you fold them. I have no doubt that the next time I will do homemade potstickers, it will be easier and faster than the first time I made them. Overall, although my potstickers weren’t perfect, I enjoyed the experience. And I will WITHOUT a doubt do it again.

 

Prep: 45 min                               Cook: 10 min                              4 Servings

 

 

INGREDIENTS

24 Dumplings wrappers

350 g of Ground pork meat

200 g of Chopped fresh shrimps

125 g of Minced Cabbage (if using Napa cabbage, only use the white and hardest part and reserve the green leaves for another dish)

1 Minced medium sized onion

3 Cloves of garlic, pressed

1 tablespoon of Hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon of Grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon of Soy sauce (I used the low sodium one)

1 teaspoon of Rice wine

1 teaspoon of Sesame oil

1 teaspoon of Ground black pepper

Salt (Up to taste)

1 teaspoon of Red chili flakes (optional)

1/2 cup of water (Needed when it’s time to assemble the dumplings)

 

Dipping sauce

Soy sauce

Ground chili paste (I used the Sambal Oelek one)

1 teaspoon of honey (optional)

 

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Start by sprinkling a teaspoon of salt on the minced cabbage in order to eliminate the vegetable’s natural water. Let the salt disgorge the cabbage of its water for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, press with both hands the liquid out of the cabbage. Reserve the cabbage and discard the water.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine pork, shrimp, cabbage, onion, garlic, hoisin sauce, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, black pepper and salt together. At this stage, you can add the red chili flakes if you choose to.

3. It’s now time to assemble our dumplings. Spoon one tablespoon of the pork mixture and place it in the center of the wrapper. Use a finger to rub the edge of the wrapper with water. Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the edges to seal. Repeat the same process for the rest of the wrappers.

4. For the dipping sauce, combine all the ingredients. I didn’t put the actual quantity needed for each ingredient because it’s really up to taste. Some people would add more soy sauce and others would add more chili paste.

5. In a large skillet, heat about one tablespoon of vegetal oil over a medium heat. Add the potstikers by placing them in a circular motion (in a single layer) and make sure they don’t stick together. Don’t overcrowd the pan. Pour a little bit of water in the skillet then put the lid on. Once 90% of the water has evaporated, remove the lid and let it cook until the bottom of the potstickers is golden and crisp.

Serve while the potstickers are hot. And they go well with the Chili paste and soy sauce.

Tips:

You can switch pork for any other type of ground meat if you don’t eat pork. It’s also possible to not use shrimp and instead add more ground meat.

Sambal Oelek is an Asian-style chili paste that can be found in your local grocery store in the Asian food section.

For the extra uncooked potstickers, it’s easy to store them in your freezer. Start by placing the uncooked potstickers in a single layer on a baking tray then freeze them for 2 hours. After two hours, transfer them in freezer bags and put them back in the freezer.