Best Forevermamas Authentic Pot Stickers Northern Chinese Recipes

FOREVERMAMA'S AUTHENTIC POT STICKERS (NORTHERN CHINESE)

Steps:

• Combine the pork (or chicken), cabbage, rice wine, soy sauce, salt, pepper, scallions, sesame oil, sugar and stock. Mix well and set aside.
• Once you remove wrappers from its packaging, keep them covered with a damp dish towel (this will prevent them from drying out -- they need to remain moist for a successful result).
• Place 4 wrappers at a time on a work surface. Place about 1 teaspoons of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold in half. Moisten the edges with water and pinch together with your fingers, making sure there are no open gaps. Pleat around edges, pinching to seal well.
• Transfer the dumplings to a floured sheet pan and keep covered with a damp towel until you have finished stuffing all the dumplings.
• Heat a large skillet over high heat until it is hot. Add the peanut oil (you may need to use more than 1 T) and place the dumplings, flat side down in the pan. Turn down the heat and cook about 2 minutes or until they are lightly browned (you do not need to turn these over). (You may need 2 skillets). Add the 2/3 cup of water; cover the pan tightly and cook for 10-15 minutes over low heat until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Uncover the pan and continue cooking another 2 minutes. Remove the dumplings to a serving platter and serve with the Dipping Sauce.
• Dipping Sauce:.
• Mix all ingredients together. Taste for seasoning and correct if necessary. (The amounts given are approximate, as I normally eye-ball it).
• NOTE: Though the authentic recipe uses pork, I have used chicken breast as well which I ran through the food processor.
• The serving size of 4-5 is approximate because it all depends if you serve this as an appetizer versus a main meal.

POTSTICKERS RECIPE (WITH POTSTICKER DOUGH)

Steps:

• To a large bowl, measure in the flour and the salt. Pour in the boiled water and stir the flour immediately and vigorously with a large wooden spoon until the flour resembles loose crumbles (about 30 seconds). Pour in the iced-cold water (discard the ice first, but make sure you have correct measurement of water). Stir vigorously again for 30 seconds or until a shaggy dough begins to form. Set aside spoon and use your hands to knead the dough in the bowl, while picking up flour/dough on the sides of the bowl. Knead for 2 minutes in the bowl. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface. No need to dust the work surface with flour - unless the dough really sticks). The dough should be soft and elastic enough that kneading is very easy. Continue to knead your dough for another 3-5 minutes. As you knead the dough, it should become more smooth. In a medium sized bowl, plop in the dough ball, cover dough loosely with a barely damp paper towel and then cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let rest for 20 minutes while you prepare the filling and the dipping sauce.
• In a bowl, mix the shredded cabbage with 1/4 teaspoon of salt (1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt, if using.) Set aside while you move on to next step of recipe.
• In a separate bowl, mix the ground pork with soy sauce, ground pepper, cornstarch, rice wine (if using) and sesame oil. Add in the chives, water chestnuts and mushrooms.
• Back to the cabbage - grab a handful of cabbage, squeeze hard to expel the water into the sink. Add the dry cabbage into the bowl with the rest of the filling ingredients. Mix well. You can cook a spoonful of filling in a small frying pan for a taste, if you'd like.
• Turn out the rested dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough in half, keep unused half under the damp paper towel to prevent from drying out. Roll out the other half into a long snake, about 1-1/4 inches in diameter. Cut into approximately 20 even pieces. Take 1 piece, gather up the edges and pinch together, forming a taut, round surface. Roll between palms to form ball. Squash between flat palms to flatten into disk. Use rolling pin to roll out to 3-1/2 inch diameter. Try to make the edges of wrapper thinner than the center. Repeat for remaining dough. If you don't have a helper on hand to fold the potstickers, keep wrappers under cover (plastic wrap or barely damp paper towel) to prevent drying out. Fill and fold potstickers according to the instructions and photos above in the post. Place folded potstickers on a floured piece of parchment or tin foil-lined baking sheet to prevent sticking.
• Mix together dipping sauce ingredients. Set aside until ready to serve.
• Have 1/4 cup water and a tight-fitting lid for your pan at the ready, by your stove. Heat a large, nonstick frying or saute pan over medium heat. When hot, swirl in a little cooking oil, just enough to swirl around. Carefully lay potstickers into the pan, they can touch a little, but do not overcrowd. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then peek under one or two potstickers to see if the bottoms have lightly browned. Adjust your heat if needed.
• When lightly browned, it's time for the steaming. In one hand, have the lid ready. In the other, carefully pour in 1/4 cup of water into the pan. It will splatter, so please be careful. Immediately cover pan with the lid to trap the steam. Let cook for 2 minutes, then open the lid. Continue cooking for another 2 minutes, until all of the water has evaporated. Take a peek under the potsticker. You can add a little more cooking oil if it has trouble browning (but only after all the water has evaporated, otherwise it will splatter.) Shake the pan to loosen the potstickers, swirl in the oil and tilt pan to distribute the oil. When bottoms are nicely browned, plate and serve with dipping sauce.