Homemade pork potstickers
Juicy pork and cabbage dumplings with crispy golden bottoms and a soy vinegar dip, and a stash to freeze for later.
- 75 min total
- 60 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.28 a serving
- 710 calories
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 cups napa cabbage, finely chopped
- 1 lb ground pork
- 4 stalks green onions, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 package wonton wrappers, about 32 used
- 1 tsp chili garlic sauce (optional)
From your pantry
- ¾ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp soy sauce, divided
- ½ tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1¼ cups water, divided
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
Each serving has about 710 calories, 31 g protein, 59 g carbs and 38 g fat, and costs about $2.28 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the chopped cabbage with the salt in a bowl and let it sit 10 minutes, then squeeze out as much water as you can with your hands.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Squeeze hard. Watery cabbage makes a soggy filling that leaks through the wrappers.Mix the pork, cabbage, green onions, ginger, garlic, 1 tbsp of the soy sauce, the sesame oil, sugar and pepper with a fork until sticky.
Put a teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wrapper, wet the edges with a fingertip of water, fold it into a triangle, and press out the air as you seal. Repeat.
Heaping. Heaping means a rounded mound piled above the rim of the spoon or cup, not leveled off. It’s a little more than the measure, on purpose.
How you’ll know: The pile sits above the edge of the spoon, and you leave it there instead of scraping it flat.
Dolly’s tip: Keep the wrappers under a damp towel while you work so they don’t dry out and crack.Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large nonstick over medium-high. Set in about 12 potstickers flat side down and fry 2 minutes, until underneath.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Pour in ⅓ cup of the water, cover right away, and 6 minutes, until the wrappers look see-through and the filling is firm and reads 160°F.
Steam. Steaming means cooking food over or in a little simmering water with a lid on to trap the steam. It cooks gently and keeps vegetables bright and tender.
How you’ll know: The color turns vivid, and a fork goes in with just a little resistance.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Dolly’s tip: Stand back when the water hits the pan. It spits hard for a second.Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Uncover and cook 1 to 2 minutes more, until the water is gone and the bottoms are again. Repeat with the rest.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Stir the rest of the soy sauce with the vinegar and chili garlic sauce for dipping.
Serve the potstickers hot, crispy side up, with the sauce.
Dolly’s tip: To freeze extras, set the raw potstickers on a tray in the freezer until hard, then bag them. Cook from frozen, steaming 2 minutes longer.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
