Potstickers – Three Yummy Fillings

Prep Methods/Techniques
Cuisine ,
Course ,
Servings 32
Description
I've never served these dumplings to anyone who didn't love them. These are so much better that anything you can get in a grocery store (even, in a lot of restaurants).
Sometimes potstickers are served as an appetizer, but we like to have a platter of them as a meal. Serve with Chile Dipping Sauce, Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce, rice and stir-fried veg.
Noted on 1/27/2012
Ingredients
  • Wonton wrappers (3-inch square - one recipe of filling uses about 32 wrappers, a package contains about 48 wrappers)
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
    • Ginger Sesame Shrimp Filling
  • 6 oz raw shrimp (shelled, finely chopped)
  • 2 oz ground pork
  • 1/2 can water chestnuts (minced)
  • 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
  • 1 Splash vermouth
  • 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 large egg white (lightly beaten)
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 green onions (minced)
    • Curried Chicken & Carrot Filling with Basil
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup minced onion
  • 1/4 cup minced celery (minced)
  • 2 clove garlic (peeled and minced)
  • 1 cup finely shredded carrot (about 2 medium)
  • 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
  • 6 oz ground chicken
  • 2 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp hot Madras curry powder (or your favorite curry powder blend)
  • 2 tbsp shredded fresh basil (shredded)
    • Sesame Beef & Cabbage Filling
  • 1/4 small Napa cabbage (finely shredded, about 2 cups)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 4 oz ground beef
  • 4 green onions
  • 3 clove garlic (peeled and minced)
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sesame seeds (toasted)
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • large pinch cayenne pepper
    • For Serving
  • Chile Dipping Sauce
  • Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce
Method
    For the shrimp filling:
  1. Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Let stand about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
    2. For the chicken filling:
  2. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onions, celery and garlic; sauté until almost softened, about 3 minutes. Add carrots, sauté until vegetables soften, about 2 minutes longer. Add curry paste and coconut milk; cook, stirring to incorporate curry paste, until most of coconut milk has been absorbed. Transfer vegetable mixture to a bowl; cool to room temperature.
  3. Mix in remaining ingredients. Let stand about 30 minutes. cover and refrigerate until ready to make dumplings.
    4. For the beef filling:
  4. Toss cabbage and salt together in colander; let stand until cabbage wilts, 15 to 20 minutes. rinse cabbage; squeeze dry. Mix cabbage with remaining ingredients. cover and refrigerate until ready to make dumplings.
    5. Shaping and cooking the dumplings:
  5. Lightly coat a baking sheet with vegetable oil.
  6. Place about 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of a square wonton wrapper. Moisten the edges lightly with water. Bring up two opposite corners of the wrapper and join over the filling. Bring up the two other corners and pinch all four together in a point to make a pyramid shaped parcel. Pinch the seams firmly together to seal. Place the finished dumpling on the baking sheet and proceed with the remainder of the filling.
    The pyramid shape is my favorite dumpling shape, but when making several different fillings you might want to vary the shape with each type of filling. There is plenty of info online about making different potsticker shapes.
  7. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot and hazy, add dumplings, flat sides down. Fry until bottoms are brown, about 2 minutes.
  8. Add broth or 1/2 cup water to skillet, pouring around dumplings. Cover and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 3 minutes longer. Uncover and let dumplings fry until bottoms are crisp again, about 1 minute. If making more than one batch of dumplings, place cooked dumplings on platter in warm oven. Serve dumplings as soon after cooking as possible, with dipping sauces passed separately.
Cook's Notes
Yield
Makes about 32 potstickers per recipe of filling
All the filling recipes can (and should) be doubled or tripled.
Ingredient Notes
Oyster sauce, Thai red curry paste, fish sauce and unsweetened coconut milk can usually be found these days in the Asian section of most grocery stores.
Advance Prep
All the fillings can be made early in the day for an evening meal.
The sauces can be made one day ahead.
The potstickers may be filled, covered and refrigerated several hours before cooking.
I've also had good luck freezing them - the cooking time should be longer for the frozen potstickers. Add a little more chicken stock or water when steaming the dumplings.
When Dylan comes home on a break from school, we often make a triple batch of potstickers and cook and freeze all of them. She puts them in her suitcase with freezer packs and then into her freezer when she gets back to her place in Santa Cruz. Cooked and frozen, they microwave surprisingly well.