Potstickers

My version of potstickers. I haven't quite got all the kinks worked out yet. The taste is there, but the consistency doesn't always come out right.

Filling:
 - 1 package of ground turkey (~1.4 lbs)
 - 1/2 cabbage (you may want to try less than this, I think this is what is causing it to fall apart)
 - Fresh Ginger Root (I'm sure you can do this with dried, but I like fresh. I use apprx. a palm-sized piece of ginger)
 - 3 Eggs
 - 2 cloves of garlic
 - 1 can of water chestnuts (drained)
 - 1 tsp salt (don't put a lot in; there is plenty in the dipping sauce)
 - 1 tbsp sugar
 - 2 tbsp sesame oil


Wonton wrappers:
You can either buy a pack, often located in the fresh-food section near the tofu, or you can make them yourself. To make them yourself, 2 cups flour, 1 egg, 1 tsp salt, and enough water to make it a non-sticky ball of dough that you can roll out. Personally, I prefer making my own because I like larger wontons, but I'm often lazy.

Dipping Sauce:
3 parts rice wine vinegar
3 parts soy sauce
1 part chili oil
sprinkling of chopped green onions
sprinkling of diced ginger


Prep:
1. Dice all the ingredients finely. I typically don't bother skinning the ginger.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl

 To fill the wonton wrappers:
3. Set a cup of water near where you are working.
4. Put enough filling in the center of the wonton wrapper to make plump but not overstuffed dumplings
5. Wet the edges of the wrapper, then press firmly together.
 - For these steps, I typically hold the wrapper in the palm of my left hand, place the filling and wet the edges with the right, close the left hand to bring the edges together then pinch them closed with my right hand. This helps support the bottom of the wonton wrapper so that you don't break them.

To cook them:
6. Fry the wontons pinched-side-down to help seal them until they are golden brown on one side
7. Flip them over so they are pinched-side up
8. Pour enough water into the frying pan so that the wontons are mostly submerged (but not quite).
9. Let the water boil off until it is almost entirely gone
10. Cut one open to make sure that it was cooked all the way. Eat it. Don't burn your mouth.
11. If it hasn't finished cooking yet, add some more water.


I typically will fill enough wontons to get one pan going, then start filling the next batch while the first one is waiting for the water to boil off. When you boil it off it will end up very starchy at the bottom of the pan, so you probably don't want to let it go completely down. If you're going to use the same pan to make multiple batches, you can do about two batches before you need to clean out the pan.



They freeze very well either filled pre-cooked OR after cooking. You can throw frozen un-cooked dumplings directly into boiling water to cook. You lose the nice fried taste but its really easy. Cooked frozen dumplings can go straight into the microwave to be defrosted.




Other modifications I've done: Without water chestnuts, with  carrots, with yellow onion instead of green onion, added various ingredients from the dipping sauce directly into the filling (especially if I can't bring dipping sauce with me to wherever we'll be eating them, just be careful about how much salt you end up with)