Pork Potstickers

Put the shredded cabbage into a bowl. Sprinkle cabbage with the 1/2 tablespoon of salt and let it stand for 30 minutes. Then wrap cabbage in a clean dishtowel and squeeze out any water. The drier the cabbage, the better.

In a large bowl, mix the cabbage with all of the other ingredients (except the chicken stock, frying oil and the wonton wrappers). Put a little ball of it on a saucer and cook it in the microwave for a minute or so (or until no longer pink). Taste it and adjust seasonings if necessary.

You can cut the wonton wrappers into circles with a glass or a biscuit cutter if you like, but I just leave them square. This gives you more area to work with. Make sure you keep the wrappers you aren’t using covered with a damp towel, because they dry out quickly.

Put some warm water in a small bowl for wetting your fingers. Put a few of your wonton wrappers on your work surface. Place a small mound of filling (about 2 teaspoons) in the middle of the wrappers. Wet your fingers in the water and run them around the entire edge of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half diagonally, corner to corner to form a triangle (or a half moon if you cut them into circles). Starting at one end, pinch the wrapper tightly together all the way around until it is completely sealed. At this point, you can leave them triangular (or half moon) if you like, but I take 2 corners and seal them together almost like a tortellini. Not traditional, I know, but I like the way it looks and it seems an additional safeguard to keeping it sealed. Keep going with additional wrappers and filling until you run out of filling.

At this point you can freeze them if you like. Line the dumplings up in a single layer on a parchment paper lined sheet pan and put them in the freezer. I leave them overnight just to be sure they are fully frozen. You can then put them in a freezer bag and just pull out however many you want to cook whenever you like.

When you are ready to cook them: In a hot greased (nonstick if you can or you’ll find out where these dumplings got their names) pan over medium-high heat, place potstickers flat side down and cook until the bottom is browned, about 2 minutes. Have the cover for the pan ready (I use a sheet tray since my pan doesn’t have a lid), and add one cup of chicken stock carefully as it will splatter. Cover the pan immediately. The stock will steam the potstickers. They are done when the stock has evaporated, about 4-5 minutes. When done, remove the potstickers from the pan onto a paper towel lined plate. Then repeat the frying process for additional potstickers using additional broth for each batch.

I make a dipping sauce with soy sauce, a little brown sugar, some rice wine vinegar and a splash of sweet chile sauce, but these are so tasty they don’t need a sauce unless you want one. Enjoy!!