Potstickers #5

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

In a bowl, combine flour and water, mixing to form a ball. Remove to a
floured board and knead with your palm for about 3 minutes. Shape into a
ball, cover with a damp towel, and let stand for about 10 minutes.
Make the filling by combining the Filling ingredients above. Refrigerate
until ready to use.
To shape and assemble, knead dough for about 3 minutes. Roll into a
cylinder that is about 1 inch in diameter. Cut off the ends, then cut into
about 24 pieces, each about 3/4-inch wide. With the cut side up, press the
dough down with your palm to flatten. Use a rolling pin to make pancakes
about 2 1/2-3 inches in diameter. (They get quite thin; that's what you
want.)
Spoon 1 tablespoon of filling into the centre of each pancake. Fold the
dough over to make a half circle and pleat the edges firmly together.
To pan-fry, heat cast-iron or other heavy-bottom skillet over moderate
heat. Add 3 Tbs. oil, swirling to coat bottom. (Watch out, it sizzles quite
a bit. Don't get burned!) When oil is hot, place potstickers, seam side up,
in skillet and agitate (shake) for 30 seconds. Pour in water, cover, and
gently boil over moderate heat for 7 to 8 minutes. When oil and water start
to sizzle, add remaining 2 Tbs. oil. Tip skillet to distribute oil evenly;
watch carefully (uncovered) to prevent sticking. When bottoms are brown
(usually several minutes later), remove from heat and carefully lift out
potstickers with spatula.
To serve, turn potstickers over (dark side up) and arrange on serving
platter. Combine chilli oil, vinegar, and soy sauce in proportions to suit
your taste and offer sauce for dipping. Alternatively, cut up a hot chilli
pepper into red rice vinegar.
  NOTES:
You can freeze uncooked potstickers for later use, if you squeeze out the
water from the cabbage during preparation (in a colander or cheesecloth).
Freeze potstickers separately on cookie sheets until firm, then put them in
plastic bags.
When rolling out the pancakes, leave the centres slightly thicker than the
edges. A thicker centre will hold up better during the browning.
If you prefer, steam potstickers for about 12 minutes over boiling water
instead of pan-frying.
These are really not hard to make, and come out quite nicely! Following the
dough recipe above leads to a fairly dry and floury dough; this makes it
hard to roll out and pleat. Feel free to add a little more water. There are
also now commercially available potsticker presses that take care of
folding and pleating; they're cheap and plastic and work rather well.
The perfect potsticker is uniformly brown with a thick brown area on the
bottom (where it sticks to the pot); it seems that achieving this only
comes with practice. I tend to fry both sides a bit before adding the
water; this helps. Beware of too much heat; the bottom will bubble and
crack. This doesn't taste any different, but doesn't look as nice.
If you don't cook the whole batch at once, store the potstickers so that
they don't touch; the dough tends to stick to itself, so the potstickers
may tear as you remove them.
Formatted & Busted by RecipeLu <recipelu@recipelu.com>
Posted to recipelu-digest Volume 01 Number 230 by RecipeLu
<recipelu@geocities.com> on Nov 09, 1997

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