So, I am one of those people who can't sleep at night. Sometimes, when I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, I turn on the Cooking Channel and watch old episodes of one of my favorite shows, "Good Eats" with Alton Brown. The other night he did a series of episodes on Asian cooking, and one of them was about wonton wrappers. He used them in quite a few recipes, but the only one that I really remember was pot-stickers. It might be because we all love pot-stickers. In fact we usually buy the frozen ones and eat them as a snack, but after watching Alton Brown, I figured, how hard could this be? The only problem, was that I hated the ingredients he used. Along with the pork, ginger, soy sauce and scallions, he put in things like catsup and mustard! Really? How does that go in a pot-sticker? Convinced that there had to be a better way, I searched the internet and found dozens of recipes. I took what I liked from each of them and came up with my own version. I guess it was a success, because everyone loved them!Now, I must be brutally honest here. This is not a quick week-night meal. While the process is not at all difficult, it is very time consuming. I made about 80 pot-stickers and found it took me about 40 seconds to make each one. That was before cooking them, so you do the math.
Most of the recipes I read suggested making a large batch and before cooking, freezing them on a sheet pan and them and then transferring them to another container. This would be a good idea, but my whole family was here tonight and I knew I had to cook all of them. I actually had most of the ingredients here, but I was out of fresh ginger and needed to get scallions along with the wonton wrappers. Some of the recipes called for napa cabbage and some for regular cabbage. Since I already had regular cabbage in my fridge, I used that. Wonton wrappers are found in your local grocery store and are usually in the produce section near the tofu. One more thing, you will need to cook these in a skillet with a tight fitting lid. Do not use one of those super copper non stick pans, they won't cook properly. Pot-stickers got their name because they need to stick to the pot! Are you ready?
2 cups finely chopped cabbage (2 cups is about 1/4 of a small head of cabbage)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 to 1 lb. of ground pork
a 1 inch piece of fresh ginger grated. Do not substitute ground ginger!
1 small carrot grated
3 scallions finely sliced, both white and green parts
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped or run through a garlic press
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 small egg beaten (if your eggs are extra large, use only half)
1 quart chicken broth
1 package won-ton wrappers (I used a package and a half and a whole pound of pork)
vegetable oil for frying
Begin by making sure the cabbage is finely chopped. Put in a bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Allow this to sit for 30 minutes. In another bowl whisk together the soy sauce, honey, sesame oil and egg. Add the pork, carrot and scallions and mix. After the cabbage has sat for thirty minutes, transfer it to a clean tea towel, twist and squeeze out all of the liquid. Squeeze really hard! Add the cabbage to the meat mixture and mix the whole thing with your hands like you are making meatloaf. Now comes the fun part.
Before you begin assembling the pot stickers cover a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper. Dampen a tea towel. You will need to keep your pot-stickers covered with the towel until you cook them so they don't dry out. Place another damp towel over the wonton wrappers; you don't want those to dry out either! Also, place a small bowl of water in your work area so you can dip your fingers to dampen the edges of the wonton to seal.
Now place a small amount of filling at one corner of the wonton wrapper. Dip your finger into the water and moisten the two opposite sides.
Fold the wrapper over the filling and seal. Now make two pleats on each side of the triangle. Place under your damp towel and continue until all the wrappers or filling has been used up.
Now add a tablespoon or two of oil to your skillet and heat over medium high heat. Place about ten pot-stickers in the skillet. Do not touch them! There is no need to flip them over. Let them cook for two minutes - I actually set my timer. While they are cooking, pour 1/2 cup of chicken broth into a measuring cup with a pour spout. When they have cooked for two minutes, reduce the heat to low, pour the broth into the pan and cover. Cook for another 2 -3 minutes. Remove lid. You will see the pot-stickers deflate and become all wrinkly. That's what we want! Remove to a plate. Pour out excess chicken broth and repeat the process. Turning the heat to medium high when you first place them in the pan and reducing it to low when you add the broth.
You will probably not use the whole quart of chicken broth. I only had to add oil every two or three batches, but each time I added oil, I used a paper towel to wipe out the pan first.
I made these early in the afternoon. When it was time for dinner, I placed a steamer basket over a pan of boiling water and steamed them in batches for a few minutes to reheat them.
You can serve with soy sauce or make the following dipping sauce. This was a little spicy, so if that's not your thing, leave out the red pepper flakes.
To a small bowl, add:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
3 cloves of garlic grated or run through a garlic press
1 teaspoon of honey
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes.
Mix well and serve with the warm pot-stickers. I served this with Mongolian beef and broccoli, but that's a recipe for another day!
I hope you find the time to try these. It was really rewarding to see that I could make something so professional!
Feel free to leave questions or comments in the comments section below this post. I promise I will get back to you as quickly as possible. Let me know if you tried them, and how you liked them!
Happy cooking!
Carol
a.k.a. Nonnie
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