Potstickers with Two Sauces
Lynley Jones
Potstickers served with Sriracha sauce and Hoisin sauce. Plus, make Asian meatballs with any excess filling.
Makes 30-50 potstickers (depending on size of wraps), serving 4-6 as a main course, more as an appetizer or dim sum.
Ingredients
Potstickers made in the Adventure Kitchen.
3/4 pounds ground pork
1/4 of a head of savoy cabbage, shredded (about a cup)
3 large scallions, thinly sliced
1 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled
2 fat cloves of garlic
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 egg
Dumpling wrappers
Vegetable or other flavorless oil
For the sauces:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Sriracha
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
Instructions
1. Combine the pork, cabbage and about 2/3 of the scallions in a medium bowl. Use a microplane to grate the ginger and garlic into the pork mixture. Add the 2 Tablespoons of soy sauce along with 1/4 cup of cold water and use your hands to mix everything together.
Potsticker being assembled in the Adventure Kitchen.
2. Break the egg into a small bowl and whisk. Lay a dumpling wrapper on a clean work surface and brush a little of the egg around the outer edge, going about halfway around. Spoon about 1 rounded teaspoon of pork mixture into the middle of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper over the mixture, sealing the edges together. (You can experiment with folding the wrapper into pleats as you work, if you want to get a little fancy.) Repeat until you have used up all the wrappers, or all the pork mixture, placing the finished dumplings on a plate as you work. (Don't throw out the excess egg and pork! See the notes to use them to make Asian meatballs.)
3. Make the dipping sauces in two small bowls: In each bowl, combine 1/4 cup soy sauce with 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar. In one bowl, stir in the sriracha, and in the other stir in the hoisin, blending each well. Float a few scallions on top of each sauce to garnish. (You might want to use different colored bowls, or find some other way to differentiate the sriracha sauce from the hoisin sauce.)
A plate of potstickers, ready for the skillet in the Adventure Kitchen.
4. Warm a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 Tablespoons of oil to the skillet, allowing it to get very hot. Add the dumplings to the skillet, one at a time, in a single layer until the skillet is full. (You will likely have to work in batches to cook all the dumplings.) Cook the potstickers in the skillet for 1-3 minutes, until the bottoms are golden (not too dark) brown. Pour 1/4 cup of cold water into the skillet and cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 3 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for 2-3 more minutes, until the water has been absorbed and evaporated. As the potstickers finish cooking, they will release themselves from the pan and you can remove them to a serving dish.
5. Wipe out the pan to remove any cooked particles and repeat with additional batches until all potstickers are cooked. Sprinkle the remaining sliced scallions over the potstickers to garnish, and serve with the dipping sauces.
Notes:
If you have more pork mixture than dumpling wrappers (seems to happen to me every time), you can use the extra to make Asian meatballs! Here's how:
Combine enough of the egg with the excess pork mixture to make a wet, but not soupy, mass. Use your hands or two spoons to form the pork mixture into meatballs about 1-1.5 inches in diameter. Warm oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the meatballs to the skillet, turning them to brown on all sides for about 3-5 minutes. Pour 1/4 cup cold water into the pan and put the lid on. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, turning the meatballs halfway through. Transfer the meatballs to a serving dish, pour the pan sauce over them and serve with leftover dipping sauce. (Minced cilantro would be a nice garnish if you happen to have some on hand.)
This recipe was originally created for our Series of Unfortunate Recipes, based on the book and Netflix series by Lemony Snicket. Don’t worry, this recipe is delicious! It’s the story that’s unfortunate.