I realize that most of my ingredients and flavors are surround by Asian cultures, and there is a reason for that. The freshness of the ingredient, the intense flavors, and the simplicity of the cook time. Today I am focusing on the pot sticker, otherwise know as the gyoza. I have been making these for many years and they truly are delicious. The process contains meat marination, wrapping, and cooking these little morsels, similar to the egg roll process. I was turned onto these dumplings while eating Dim Sum, and figured out my own pot sticker from that point on.
Ingredients:
Ground Pork
Shallots or green onions, thinly sliced/chopped
Roasted Sesame Oil (dark)
Sherry Cooking Wine
Pepper
Chinese Cabbage (Savoy)
Chopped Ginger
Water for wrapping
Chicken broth or water for steaming
Small amount of oil (vegetable or canola)
Gyoza Wrappers (found in many Asian markets)
For the non-meat eater, please note that you can substitute meat for vegetables as well.
Once you have the meat mixture marinated with above ingredients, excluding the wrappers, let it marinade for nearly thirty minutes to a hour. Once ready, place about a tablespoon of the meat mixture into the middle of the wrapper, and be mindful that you want to make a tight seal of the wrapper, so do not get too close to the edges. Brush water along the half-side of the moon-shaped wrapper, fold over and seal. Move onto the next twenty or fifty.
Once you are ready, heat a large pan of about one tablespoon of the oil and disperse throughout the pan. The goal is to lightly coat the pan with oil as we want to go through a light fry process on both sides, amounting to about 2-3 minutes on each side. Once lightly browned on each side, add your water or chicken broth, about a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup, cover, and let steam until the liquid almost evaporates.
That’s it. Plate and serve. You can do a few things with these at this time. Add them to a broth, a few glass noodles, and serve as a soup, or my favorite which is dipping them into the gyoza sauce, or a chili sauce, or heck, simply eat them alone as the flavor itself is so good.
If are are wanting to make the sauce, it is really easy:
