1 lb lean ground beef
2/3 cup green onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup chicken stock or water
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 1/2 tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 package of gyoza skins (also called Shanghai dumpling wrappers)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch
Filling the Pot Stickers:
Before you start making the pot stickers, prepare your workspace. Get out a large baking sheet and moisten a clean kitchen towel or paper towel until just damp. In a small bowl mix together the water and cornstarch.
In a large mixing bowl mix together the ground beef, green onions, ginger, salt, pepper, chicken stock, soy sauce, rice wine, canola oil and sesame oil. You can let this sit covered in the fridge for 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours) to develop the flavors.
To begin filling your pot stickers, hold a dumpling wrapper in one hand. Dip your finger in the cornstarch water and moisten all around the outside edge of the wrapper. Place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Fold the gyoza wrapper in half and pinch in the middle. To make a pleat, you'll need to make a small fold to the left of the middle. Pinch that together. Make another fold to the left of the pleat you just made and pinch together. Make the same pleats pinching them together on the other side until the dumpling is completely sealed. In the palm of your hand or on a hard surface, stand the gyoza up and tap to make a flat bottom.
When you are all done folding and making the potstickers, you could at this point place your whole baking sheet in the freezer. The pot stickers will freeze in about an hour or two and can then be placed in a ziplock bag. This prevents them from freezing into a big potsticker ball. When you are ready to use them, just pull them out of the freezer and add an extra minute or two for cooking time.
Cooking the Pot Stickers:
Whether cooking these fresh or frozen, get out a large non-stick skillet that has a tight fitting lid. Place a couple teaspoons of oil in the pan and turn the heat up to high. Get a 1/2 cup of water ready and place on the counter beside you. Place the pot stickers in the pan on the flat side with their pleats sticking up. Depending on the size of your pan you should be able to fit about 12 or so into the pan (if I'm serving this as a meal for 4, I have two frying pans going at once). After about a minute or two the bottoms of the pot stickers will be browned and crispy. Grab the lid to the frying pan in one hand and the 1/2 cup of water in the other. Quickly pour the water into the pan and put the lid on. Turn the heat down to low and set a timer for 10 minutes. The dumplings will finish cooking in the pan by steaming.
After 10 minutes remove the lid of the pan. If not all the water is gone let them sit another minute or two to let the water evaporate and let the bottoms of the pot stickers get crispy again. Remove to a serving dish.
Serve the pot stickers with your choice of dipping sauce:
#1 Soy Sesame Dipping Sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Mix ingredients together in small bowl and serve with gyoza.
#2 Tangy Chili Dipping Sauce
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp chili oil (Layu chili oil)
Dash of chili pepper (Ichimi togarashi)
Mix ingredients together in small bowl and serve with gyoza.
Both of these are great dipping sauces. I serve both to give my guests choice. My personal favorite is the two sauces mixed together.
