Japaanese potstickers

The other day I decided to make potstickers, if you have never had them before they are wonderful. I found a great recipe online and with the help of my pasta maker and Jesse we made potstickers together they were delicious.

Potstickers

½ lb ground pork (1 cup)

¾ cup shredded Napa cabbage

1 green onion, diced

2 teasp minced ginger

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tbsp soy sauce

¼ teasp hot chili oil, or to taste

¼ teasp sesame oil

2 tbsp vegetable oil for frying, or as needed

30 gyoza wrappers, or as needed I used a different recipe for the wrappers, I used this wonton recipe.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the shredded cabbage until it is tender but still crisp. Plunge into ice cold water, remove, and drain thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, combine the ground pork, cooked cabbage, green onion, minced ginger, egg, soy sauce, chili oil and sesame oil.

Lay a gyoza wrapper in front of you. Wet all the edges with water. Place a teaspoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Fold the sides up to form a semicircle, and then pinch the edges to seal. Continue with the rest of the gyoza wrappers until the filling is gone.

To cook, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy frying pan over medium-high to high heat. Add 12 - 15 of the gyoza and cook for 2 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom.

Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan. Cover the dumplings and cook until the water is absorbed (5 to 7 minutes). Repeat with the remainder of the gyoza dumplings..]

Wonton Wrappers

1 egg

¾ teasp salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

⅓ to ½ cup water, as needed

Extra flour as needed

Preparation:

Lightly beat the egg with the salt. Add 1/4 cup water.

Sift the flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the egg and water mixture. Mix in with the flour. Add as much of the remaining water as necessary to form a dough. (Add more water than the recipe calls for if the dough is too dry).

Form the dough into a ball and knead for about 5 minutes, or until it forms a smooth, workable dough. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out until very thin, and cut into 3 1/2-inch squares. Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

"This recipe worked perfectly for me. I did modify a few things. I ended up using (probably) close to 1/2 cup of water. The dough was still very, very dry and unkneadable. Much dryer than you would think it should be. I left it covered for 15 minutes, then kneaded it (by which time it had relaxed a bit), then left it for another half hour (covered).

It was beautiful. I rolled it out using a hand-cranked pasta machine, using half of the dough each time. The pasta machine made it 6 inches wide, which fit 2 three inch cut-outs side-by-side. I used a lot of flour, folded the rolled dough over itself so it was in 4 layers, then cut out with the biscuit cutter. I left it under a damp paper towel for about 1 1/2 hours and had no trouble with sticking, except around the edges where the biscuit cutter had kind of smooshed the layers together a bit. Next time I wouldn't do more than 2 layers.